Bound
by CallMeParrot
Summary: Eva never had a stable life until she moved in with her grandmother in Detroit, Michigan. When she meets a certain bounty hunter, however, her life is turned upside down and changed in a way she could have never imagined. Following Cyndi's Lightverse.
1. A little push in the right direction

'_Cause I'm broken when I'm open_

_And I don't feel like I am strong enough_

'_Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome_

_And I don't feel right when you're gone away_

­— _Broken_ – Seether featuring Amy Lee

†††

Evangeline Kovac's boots thumped quietly on the cement as she strode down the sidewalk. The sun was low on the horizon and cast orange light on everything. She usually drove a Harley Davidson sportster motorcycle when she went out, but for some reason, tonight she felt like walking. The leather of her jacket creaked softly as she slid her hands into the pockets, eyeing cars and trucks as she passed them. It was in her blood to steal and con—she'd done it as a way of life for four years, until a botched con nearly got her in trouble—but she only did it occasionally, for extra money. Sometimes she'd lift wallets and take all the cash and credit cards, then leave the empty wallets behind, sometimes she'd boost vehicles and take them to chop shops to get whatever money the parts were worth.

She didn't really have any plans for tonight, but she had to get out of the house. She loved her grandmother, she really did, but the tough old bat got stuffy sometimes. Because of her minimal social life—or lack thereof, really—and no plans other than aimlessly walking around, Eva decided to do some prospecting. There weren't enough people out tonight to lift wallets, so she decided boosting a car would be the better choice. The cars and trucks parked out on the street were too open, so she kept walking. Nobody paid much mind to the short girl with the "emo" haircut in the ratty white tank top, dark jeans and leather jacket.

Passing a parking garage, Eva stopped and backtracked. The Rhine stones in her Harley Davidson belt buckle glittered dimly in the dim light cast by the street lamps. _A virtual picnic,_ she thought to herself and grinned. She entered the parking garage and began a circuit around the ground level, scoping out the cars, trucks and SUVs. None of them seemed worth the effort to boost, until—

She stopped.

Between two SUVs, one wicked beast of a muscle car sat. The rear bumper was jagged, shaped almost like the teeth of a bulldozer shovel, and decorated with four menacing spikes. The taillights reminded her of a classic 1980's model Corvette. Tugging her riding gloves out of her jacket pocket, Eva moved over to the car. It was painted black with green accents, and she noticed all the windows—front and back windshields included—were tinted a sinister shade of red. _Nice car... Too bad the owner will never see it again. _She pulled on her gloves and ran her hand over the car's chassis, looking down when her leg caught on something. Even the _hubcaps_ had spikes!

Stepping around the spiked hubcap, she moved to the driver door. She ran her hand up over the roof, then dropped it down and tested the door, jiggling the handle. To her surprise, the door popped right open. Grinning, she pushed the door open wider and slid into the driver seat. Despite how old the car looked, the door joints moved smoothly and the catch sounded strong when she pulled the door closed. The interior of the cab was all black and seemed to be leather, and the dash controls were green. Even the gauge needles were green. She ran her leather-clad hands over the seat, the skull atop the gear shifter, and the chain steering wheel. Even the gas, brake, and clutch pedals were done up as skulls with fangs appearing to bite into the footpads, which were flat, textured metal. Oh, this car was _hot._

"Oh, nice," she whispered. Her voice was a quiet, coarse rasp and it hurt to speak—even whisper—but she couldn't help it. This car required vocalizing her thoughts. "Let's see how you roar."

And—was it just her, or another car going by on the upper level, or did this car shiver when she touched it? Eva shrugged and leaned forward, groping under the dash for the gap in the control panel where the wires were hidden. She found the cluster of wires and tugged it down, leaning over sideways to get a better look around the steering column as she tugged the blue and red wires free. She pinched the ends of the wires, twisting and breaking the plastic covering, then she tapped the bare copper wire together until the engine sparked and turned over. She twisted the wires together when the engine roared to life, then sat up and gave herself a smirk in the rear-view mirror, making a noise that sounded remarkably like a purr.

She leaned down and grabbed the lever under the seat, pulling it up on its track so she could reach the pedals, then she put her foot on the gas and pressed the pedal down. The engine snarled and roared, almost as loud as her Harley. She shivered in the seat and wrapped one gloved hand around the steering wheel.

"Ohh, that's orgasmic," she purred.

Flashing yellow lights caught her attention and she cursed softly, looking into the side- and rear-view mirrors as she pushed in the clutch and grabbed the skull on the gear shifter. She waited until the security truck passed before she put the car into reverse and backed out of the parking space. Shifting into first gear, Eva drove the car out of the parking garage, waited until she was sure the security truck was gone, then sped through town. She took back roads, roundabouts and a virtual maze of turns, avoiding police patrol routes, until she came upon a lonely factory warehouse.

She pulled into the factory parking lot and drove around to the back of the building. Driving right up to the huge open doors of the warehouse, she stopped and parked the car, letting the engine idle in neutral as she got out. There was a group of people inside taking vehicles apart with saws and torches, and the sounds were nearly deafening as the pieces of metal and disembodied parts were tossed into separate piles. Entire engine blocks sat on crates and tire stacks. Eva hoped this car was worth a decent amount as she approached the man who appeared to be in charge of this chop shop. He was huge—probably over six feet—and full of muscle. His hands, arms and clothes were stained with grease and oil and his face was mean.

"I have a car for you," she rasped. "I don't know what year, make or model it is, it has too many mods, but it has a beefed up engine and rides nice." _Oh,_ it hurt to talk.

The man smirked at her. He seemed mocking. "Alright, little lady. Where is it?"

_Where is it? It's right back there, you jack-off._ She figured he might be jerking her chain, so she gestured behind her. "Whatever it's worth, I want it split fifty-fifty,"

He snickered softly. "I don't see no car, _chica,"_ he said, gesturing.

_What?_ Eva turned. And gaped. The car was gone! Where the hell did it go?! She turned back around, glaring up at the man as heat flooded her cheeks, then she left in a hurry, deeply embarrassed. They laughed as she jogged away. She jogged across the parking lot and slowed to a brisk walk when she reached a sidewalk, cursing to herself angrily. Looking up, she spied the car parked at the curb and stopped. _What the hell?_

Eva slowly—cautiously—approached the car and stepped off the curb. She crossed around the front end and stopped at the driver door. Cars don't drive themselves. How in God's name did it end up parked here? She reached down and jiggled the door handle and the door popped right open again. Creepy. She pushed it open and slid back into the driver seat, jerking the door closed and grabbing the steering wheel in both hands.

"What the hell was that?" she asked, to no one in particular.

Staring at the center of the steering wheel, she sat back and pressed experimentally on the gas pedal. The engine revved lightly and purred. She put the car in gear and rolled forward, but just before she reached the parking lot driveway...

...the engine died. Eva slammed on the brake and leaned forward, grabbing the wire cluster. The red and blue wires were still twisted together the way she left them, but she pulled them apart and tried to hotwire the engine again. It sputtered and refused to spark. She tried again and again, and it was close to three minutes before she gave up and threw herself back into the seat, her hands going up to her face.

Suddenly, the seatbelt shot out and attacked her, flying across her chest and lap, snapping into the buckle and cinching tight as the engine suddenly roared to life. Eva let out a hoarse cry of alarm as the car _drove itself,_ peeling out onto the road at breakneck speed. The steering wheel, pedals and gear shifter moved of their own accord, as if a ghost or someone invisible was driving. She kept her feet away from the pedals and held her gloved hands up near her shoulders, watching with wide eyes as the car drove itself. _Oh God! I boosted a demon car!_

It took too many back roads to count—so far out of the way she doubted any police patrolled here. Homeless people were settling down for the night and watched with jaded eyes as a car roared past, stirring trash and litter and blowing it onto the poor folks. It drove recklessly fast through the alleyways and narrow roads. The further they got from the busier parts of Detroit, the more deserted and rundown everything got. Finally, the car pulled into an alley and stopped, the door windows opening a bit. It was dusk now and the alley was dark. The lights in the control panel on the dash came on when the headlights blinked on. The windshield might have been tinted red, but it was transparent enough that she could still tell the buildings on either side of the alley were grey. When the headlights came on, however, _everything_ turned red. She gasped.

Eva grabbed the door lever and jostled it, pushing on the door simultaneously. The door didn't budge. She leaned over and tried the passenger door. That one stayed firmly shut as well. Sitting back in the driver seat, she trembled and gazed at the glowing control panel behind the steering wheel.

"This is a little creepy," she whispered to herself.

"No, _creepy_ is having a fleshy crawling around in your back," a deep, rough and somewhat metallic voice rumbled from the speakers.

"Holy shit!" Eva jolted so hard only the seatbelt kept her in the seat.

"If you leak on my seats, you're gonna eat pavement," the voice growled.

Eva's eyebrows went up and she shook her head insistently, her hair swaying slightly and tickling her cheeks and nose.

"I'm going to undo the seatbelt. Don't break any windows," the voice came again.

The seatbelt popped out of the buckle and slowly withdrew and Eva held her hands out of the way. As freaked out as she was, she sat motionless in the seat, save for the slight trembling in her hands. A thought struck her suddenly, and it spewed from her mouth before she could restrain it.

"Are you like...that KITT guy or something? Or...one of those other...robots around town?"

A talking car might as well have come straight from Knight Rider...but then again, it could be one of those robots she'd seen around town doing everything from repairing freeway overpasses to rescuing people from burning buildings. Or fighting each other.

"KITT? Tch. Don't insult me! I'm more like KARR," was it just her, or did this car sound _amused?_ "I'm no Autobot _or_ Decepticon, girl."

She shifted, laying her gloved hands in her lap. "Okay," she rasped. Then she lifted one hand to her throat, fingering the ring in the center of the studded collar she wore.

The door swung open suddenly and the seat lifted up and tilted, unceremoniously dumping her out onto the pavement. She squawked, flinging her hands out to catch herself. She rolled onto her back when strange noises came from the car and what she saw made her scramble away, crawling and scooting backwards. The car was...it was _mutating_—for lack of a better word—into a huge robot! Her lips formed the word _'whoa'_.

He was slightly barrel-chested, long and lanky, with mismatched parts and black Kabuki-esque markings on his ashen white face. His eyes were red. He stood over her and crossed his arms, leering down at her. His right hand was a hook. That unnerved her a little. She studied him while he stood over her, leaning back on her hands. His eyes were narrow and tilted slightly, his jaw stuck out a bit and—she found him handsome, even if he was a little creepy.

"Question," he said, "what possessed you to think I'm only good for spare parts?"

Eva's stomach clenched and she felt guilty, but she answered honestly. "Uh...I needed the money."

His narrow eyes narrowed even more. "Try bounty hunting. Much more fun," he sounded mocking.

Eva snorted and rolled her eyes. "That means I'd have to work for _those_ people," _oh,_ her throat was really starting to hurt.

His mouth twitched briefly and he kneeled down, bringing his huge face nearly level with hers. His eyes moved to her throat for a moment and suddenly she felt self-conscious.

"Who are _those_ people?" he asked.

"The government," she said. "Bounty hunting here means hunting down criminals who've escaped. And I have a record. I'd rather stay as far away from those people as I can."

He chuckled softly, his lips twitching away from his teeth in a grin. "Would those scars have anything to do with your record?"

She looked down as her hand went up to her throat. He _did_ see them... "Maybe,"

He shifted and stood up straight, muttering something under his breath. "Well, fleshy, do you have a name, or do I need to make one up?" he asked.

She tilted her head back and looked up at him. "Eva," she replied.

"You can call me Lockdown, and..." he trailed off, raising his hand to the side of his head. His face twitched in a brief wince. "Great, somebody squealed," he muttered, then turned around and started walking away.

"What?" Eva asked, jumping to her feet.

Just then, sirens became audible and her innards clenched. She chased after Lockdown and he paused, halfway between biped and car.

"Don't leave me here!" she begged.

Lockdown was quiet for a moment, then said, "You were going to leave me _there."_ He sounded _hurt._

Guilt swept through her and she bit her lip. "I'm sorry!" and as she said it, she believed it. "If I knew you were...well...not just a car, I wouldn't have taken you to the chop shop! I wouldn't have even boosted you!"

He flinched and his hand went to his hand again, and he quickly finished his transformation back into a car. He was probably trying to hide it, but she saw the pain on his face. She frowned. His ears must be pretty sensitive.

"Cops never come down this alley. Police bots do, but never live people," he said. "Well, you never know which cars are alive around here, so maybe you should have checked a little better."

More guilt stabbed into her. "I'm sorry, Lockdown. How the hell was I supposed to know, anyway?"

"Maybe when I backed out without a driver?" there was a grin in his voice.

Eva walked toward him and reached for the door handle, but he reversed and backed away from her. She was pretty sure he was grinning, wherever his head was when he was a car. She frowned and put her hands on her hips.

"Those pig bots are getting closer," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, get in and shut up," he replied.

She flashed a smile and hooked her fingers under the door handle, opening and the door and sliding into the driver seat.

The door slammed shut before she had a chance to reach out and grab it, then he backed up into a garage. She hadn't even noticed the open door. The windows were closed now, but she saw a decaying pile of feces and made a face. It must smell horrible in here. The door descended and plunged them into darkness, and just a few seconds later, the sirens went by.

Eva glanced around the dark garage. She couldn't see a thing beyond the interior of Lockdown's cab. "You live here?" she heard herself ask. "What a dump,"

"I just sleep here...sometimes." He sounded insulted. "You're awfully fast about judging, aren't ya?"

Guilt stabbed her _again._ "Sorry," she said. "Grew up being juggled around foster homes. I wasn't a happy child." She hadn't the faintest idea why she was telling him this, but for some reason, she wanted to. "Why don't you come sleep in the garage at my Babička's—er, grandma's house?"

"Sounds like a lot of bruises," Lockdown mumbled. "And what the slag is a grandma?"

"It was... Half of all the fosters I grew up with had boys that liked to beat me up. And my grandma is my mom's mom," Eva answered.

She settled back in the seat and folded her hands in her lap, resting her head back and closing her eyes for a moment.

"What's the address of your place?" Lockdown asked suddenly. "And by the way? If someone's kicking your skid plate, fight back."

Eva opened her eyes and gazed up at the cab ceiling. "I try to. Being short works to my disadvantage most of the time," she muttered. Then she rattled off her grandmother's address.

"Mm," he sounded detached.

Lockdown didn't seem very talkative, and Eva wasn't much of a talker either, normally, so she didn't push conversation. His engine rumbled to life and a screen on his center control panel lit up, showing a GPS map. The garage door opened and he rolled out into the alley, taking more back roads as he headed back toward town. She watched the screen for a bit, then looked out the windshield, looking around at their surroundings as he drove. She'd never been this way before and she wanted to memorize it. Landmarks and where they were stuck in her memory like push pins with red string linked between them.

†††

Eva didn't know how much time passed before Lockdown started slowing down; she was beginning to doze off. She didn't know he'd stopped until his horn jolted her awake.

"We're here," he said.

She lifted her head and looked out the window. They were close to the house. "Oh. Thanks," she whispered.

The house was a slender, two story Victorian with a front porch railed in with fencing, and a small upper deck also railed in with fencing. There was a bench swing sitting near the front door, which was painted a powdery blue. The rest of the house was a soft, buttery yellow and the fence railing and trim was white. The house was topped with a grey roof.

"We had a deal, kid," Lockdown's voice rumbled from the speakers. "That garage better be empty."

Eva didn't recall making a deal—only inviting him to stay in the garage, but she said, "It is. Babička doesn't have a car. She takes the bus or walks, if she goes anywhere." Her motorcycle was parked in the garage, but it was at the back and hardly took up any room.

"Is she a flawed human to be...stuck here all the time?" Lockdown asked.

Eva found it an odd question. "She's just old. Living with her is the longest I've _ever_ stayed in one place."

Lockdown drove forward and pulled into the driveway, rolling slowly into the garage. The garage was a decently large size, and he fit inside with room to spare.

"How old is she?" he asked.

"She'll be eighty-nine on her next birthday," she answered quietly.

"_Only_ eighty-nine?!"

"What? Humans only live a hundred-or-so years,"

Lockdown was quiet for a moment. "I'm four _billion_ years old, fleshy."

Eva's eyebrows went up. "Wow,"

The door popped open. "Better take care of that scar." He was quiet for a moment again. "How did you get it anyway?" there was curiosity in his tone.

Eva paused as she swung her legs out, then scooted forward and stood up. She hated remembering—it still gave her nightmares—but she told him anyway. "Stole the wrong man's money. He tried to cut my throat, but he ended up stabbing me instead. Severed my vocal cords. Surgery fixed them, but my voice is permanently fucked up. The scar here," she touched the horizontal scar across the hollow of her throat, "is from a tracheotomy."

"Meh, I'd hate to see the other guy's," Lockdown mused.

"I didn't get a chance for payback, except spending his money." Eva tugged her gloves off and stuffed them in her jacket pocket.

Then she reached up behind her neck and unbuckled the collar, taking it off and revealing the scars on her throat. She figured he could still see her, so she tilted her head back so he could see the scars better. There was a crooked scar going down her throat, curving around her larynx, and it sat an inch away from a gnarly, knotted scar right over her larynx; a permanent fixture left behind by the knife blade. Lockdown was quiet for a few minutes.

"Better go tend to this...'grand-ma' of yours," he said.

Eva felt naked without the collar and quickly buckled it back on, the buckle jangling quietly as she fastened it. Her cheeks felt hot and she wondered why in hell she was blushing. She circled around Lockdown's front end and ghosted her bare fingertips over his hood in a vague, friendly pat.

"Sleep well, Lockdown," she said, smiling briefly.

He muttered a goodnight in return and she stopped at the side door leading to the house and reached up to a box next to the light switch, pressing a button and closing the garage door. She looked back at him for a moment, then exited the garage and headed into the house, the soles of her boots thumping quietly.

It was just after nine and her grandmother, Cecilija, was getting ready for bed. Eva greeted her with a kiss on her wrinkled cheek and pulled off her jacket, hanging it on the coat stand in the living room. Her grandmother was a small, delicate woman and she was very old-fashioned. She wore a high-necked, long-sleeved, ankle-length light pink cotton nightgown covered in a faded floral pattern, and silk slippers were on her feet. Her long, silver hair was loose and recently brushed, shining softly in the light from the table lamp on the coffee table in front of the couch. She didn't like how her granddaughter dressed, but she only made casual comments about her attire or makeup.

"Where did you go?" Cecilija asked. She had a heavy Eastern European accent. She came to the United States from Slovakia with her late husband in her late twenties.

"Just for a walk," Eva replied as she strode through the hallway to the stairs. _And a drive with an alien robot._


	2. Old scars are shared

It was two in the morning when Eva came out of her bathroom towel-drying her hair after a shower. She had a bathroom all to herself, adjacent to her bedroom, and Cecilija never came in without knocking, so Eva usually came out into her room naked. Tossing the damp towel onto the bed, Eva crossed to her dresser and pulled the top drawer open, taking out a pair of panties and putting them on. She wondered what Lockdown was doing and if he was asleep as she pulled on a pair of black, baggy lounge pants and a grey camisole top.

Walking over to the chair near the bed, she sat down and picked up a book, getting ready to open it up when she heard a noise out in the garage, followed by quiet clanking. Eva remembered hearing those sounds when Lockdown transformed. She set the book down and got up, walking over to the curtains at the window and pulling them back to look outside. Big glowing red eyes met her right outside the window and she gasped, her eyebrows going up slightly. Those eyes focused on her. Lockdown.

The small deck was connected to her bedroom so she let go of the curtain and stepped over to the door, flicking the lock and opening it. She moved out onto the deck and pulled the door closed quietly behind her. Lockdown watched her as she crossed the deck to the railing in front of his face.

"Lockdown? Are you okay?" she asked.

He was quiet for a second. "I'm fine." But the tone of his voice said otherwise. It was tense.

"You don't sound fine, and you don't look fine,"

Her eyebrows pinched together slightly and she reached out, touching his painted cheek. His skin—it had a soft feel to it, she noted—was so cold it almost burned. She frowned.

"You're cold," she whispered.

He drew back slightly, but he didn't go far, his head turning slightly. There was a street lamp a few yards off and if he moved any further away he'd step into the light.

"Do humans dream?" he murmured.

"Yes," Eva said, putting her hands on the flat banister capping the fence railing and lifting her self up, swinging one leg and then the other over and perching, bare feet dangling above the sleeping flowers in the garden below. "We dream."

Lockdown watched her, his broad mouth pulled into a frown. "Then I guess you have nightmares, too," he said.

She nodded, swinging her feet absently. He stared at her and squinted slightly, whether because her face was bare of makeup or because she cared, she couldn't guess. She watched him right back, lip balm making her lips a bit shiny.

"I had a...crappy birth. Sometimes I dream about it. That's all," he said flatly.

Eva looked down for a moment, then looked back up at him. "Do you want to talk about it? Might make you feel better, getting it off your chest," she shrugged and looked away again.

She didn't have a collar on and she felt incredibly self-conscious sitting here in front of him. She saw his expression change out of the corner of her eye. She'd surprised him with her question.

"It was painful," was all he said, his voice gruff.

Eva turned her gaze back to him and watched his expression. She knew her pale, ghostly blue eyes would look almost clear in the dim light from the street lamp and he looked into them. He shifted his footing slightly, his lips parting.

"Imagine waking up in pain, and you don't know why. It's the _first_ thing you remember. Wouldn't that bother you a bit?" said Lockdown, his voice carrying a thread of pain and stress.

Eva's eyebrows pulled together. "That would bother me a _lot._ What happened?" she asked, cautiously.

His eyes narrowed into a half-hearted glare. "Because I come from a fragged world," he growled.

Eva frowned, her heart feeling too big for her chest. She lifted one hand and reached out to him, laying her hand on his chin since it was closer than his cheek. She stretched her fingers out a bit and touched his bottom lip. Suddenly she wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips, but she quickly put the thought from her mind. He stared at her.

"This planet is a frigging party compared to Cybertron. Your flawed...don't get killed simply for being flawed," Lockdown said quietly.

Eva had to the think about that for a moment, then it hit her and she gaped, her eyes widening slightly and eyebrows pinching together. "They _kill_ people for having a flaw?!" she squawked. It hurt to raise her voice, but she couldn't help it. Killing someone for being imperfect—it was appalling! "That's stupid, wrong and...disgusting!" she lifted her other hand to his face. "I see _nothing_ wrong with you, Lockdown. You don't deserve to die,"

His gaze shifted down as he raised his hook to his head, working it under the lip of something on his head, then he popped whatever it was off. It was a helm; it wrapped around the sides and back of his head. Then he turned his head to the side and her jaw dropped, one hand covering her mouth. There was a gaping hole where his ears should have been—she could see _straight through_ his head! A few wires dangled into the holes. Now she understood how much pain he'd been in and why he still remembered it—and had nightmares about it. Her hand dropped to her throat.

_Oh my God._ "Your ears..." she said.

"Yeah. I'm deaf. Can't hear anything. Not even my own voice," he replied. He seemed...almost relieved to show it to her.

_She_ felt relieved for a brief moment that he couldn't hear her voice, which was grating to her own ears, then looked up at him. The hole where his ears should have been didn't make her squeamish at all. She was more shocked by the severity of it than anything else.

"You read lips?" she asked.

He smirked. "Had to, so people think I can hear," he snapped his helm back on. "I have technology that translates vibrations for me...but it's complicated."

Eva watched him speak, silently amazed that he could speak without effort, not sounding like he deliberately pronounced every word carefully, like most deaf humans sounded if they had learned to speak.

"How does it work?" she asked.

"Translates vibrations into text. Though, I do most of my 'hearing' with my feet," he shrugged. "You notice a lot when a sense is missing, I guess." He thumbed the edge of his hook and looked into her eyes. His face seemed paler than white in the moonlight.

"Can you hear enough of my voice for it to work? My voice is...really weak," Eva said, looking back into his eyes. "I don't like talking much because it hurts, but I talk with my grandma because I'd feel guilty having her learn sign language just to talk with me."

"I don't need to feel you," Lockdown replied, "I'm reading your lips just fine. And how the frag does writing on signs make it easier to communicate? Wouldn't that waste a lot of space?"

Eva smiled and giggled softly, raising her hands and signing, _"This is sign language"_ to him. Lockdown lifted his hand to his head and rubbed it lightly, as if it was hurting. Then he looked down as his hook and frowned a little.

"Oh. Even you squishies have issues with hearing?" he asked.

Eva nodded. "Some are born deaf, some become deaf in accidents," she gestured vaguely to him, referring to the holes in his head.

"I don't remember ever hearing a single sound," he admitted quietly. Then he sat down. He was so tall his eyes were level with the deck.

"You said you woke up to the pain," Eva murmured, gesturing again. "So, in essence, you were born deaf..."

Lockdown nodded slightly, lifting his gaze to the moon. He looked sad and lonely and it made Eva ache inside for some reason. She watched him quietly, taking the moment to study him more closely. His paint job was dull and dusty, but she could see where he had been shiny before. His armor had a dull sheen to it. Her gaze wandered over his body and for some reason she found herself blushing, so she averted her gaze to the flower gardens below. Cecilija would have a _fit_ if she caught her sitting on the deck railing, she mused idly.

"Yeah...since the spill happened while I was forming into a mech," Lockdown said quietly.

They were quiet then and Eva watched the flowers sway in the breeze that blew by gently. Goosebumps prickled along her skin and she hunched her shoulders a bit. The silence became awkward and she looked at him just as he turned his gaze back to her. Her cheeks burned and she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Do you like car washes?"

"Rain does me fine," he frowned and rubbed his head again, looking away. "There's waxin' places up on Cybertron...but they spray you with this smelly junk I hate. Smells like paraffin. Hate it." He looked at her again and blinked. "Your face changed color."

Her cheeks flared hotter and she was sure she was glowing red by now as she ducked her head and quickly turned her gaze down, hunching her shoulders more. Damn, why did he make her blush so much? She was practically a baby to him where their ages were concerned, but...well...she always did like older guys. Lockdown leaned in closer to get a better look at her face, but she kept her gaze on the flowers twelve feet below. He smirked. Clearly this was amusing him.

"Isn't it a bit cold to have so much skin exposed?" he asked, curiosity in his voice.

Eva leaned back and took a look at herself. Her pajamas were made of relatively light cotton fabric and her nipples puckered slightly when another breeze blew. Bah! She looked at him.

"Sometimes," she answered.

His gaze lingered on her breasts for a moment before lifting to her face. Then his head turned and he leaned away, transforming back into a car right there across the lawn! A moment later a car passed by.

"I think your front lawn is a tad too public. Don't you think?" there was a smirk in his voice. "Put on something warmer and lets get out of here for a bit. I know a quiet spot where nobody'll be botherin' us."

The invitation to leave surprised her a little, but she swung her legs back over the railing and hopped down onto the deck. She went back inside and locked the deck door behind her before getting a quarter-sleeve shirt out of a dresser drawer and pulling it on over her camisole. Then she got an old, ratty pair of shoes out of her closet and pulled them on. She'd had them for years and they were the style popular among boys who skateboarded. Then she snuck downstairs, grabbing her house keys along the way, and left the house. She locked the door behind her before crossing over to Lockdown and getting into his driver side.

"This'll take a while. If you need to, uh...recharge...go ahead." His voice rumbled from the speakers.

Lockdown didn't start his engine, but as he backed out he drove over some of Cecilija's flowers. Eva saw the flattened flowers and winced. _Ahh... I'll tell Babi__čka a little lie in the morning..._ She settled back into his seat and relaxed, closing her eyes and waiting to fall asleep. He turned on his heater, but the heat seeped from the floorboards and between his seats. She had noticed there weren't any air vents on his dash. The heat and his smooth driving lulled her to sleep in a few minutes, and she slumped sideways in his seat, her head coming to rest on his door.

†††

Eva was roused from sleep when Lockdown slowed down and stopped. She lifted her head and sat up straight, her small, compact body tensing and quivering as she stretched her muscles. She relaxed back into his seat and took a look around, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. They sat at the shore of one of the Great Lakes.

"Dunno about the trees," came his voice, "but it's nice and..." he snickered, "quiet here."

Eva chuckled softly. "It's nice here. I like it," she said, looking out at the lake. Its surface was so still it looked like a mirror. "Is this Lake...Erie? Or Lake Michigan?" she asked.

"Erm," he paused. "Lake Erie. This planet ain't so bad...just weird."

Fog undulated silently above the water and the surface quivered and chopped a little in a breeze. It ruined the mirror façade. Suddenly Eva felt like being a little daring, her heart skipping half a beat, then she grinned. She shifted and opened his door, climbing out.

"Ever heard of skinny-dipping, Lockdown?" she asked after turning toward him.

"Uh...it's a snack of wax you dip in rust. We call 'em skinny dips," he answered.

She laughed. "Skinny dipping here is completely different."

She turned and walked over to a log resting near the lakeshore. She kicked off her shoes and stripped down naked, draping her clothes over the gnarled, dead bark of the log. She heard him transforming as she bent and picked up her shoes, setting them on the log next to her clothes.

"Part of your paint job?" Lockdown asked.

An icy cold finger touched her back and she stiffened with a gasp, arching away from the offending temperature. "Ooh! Cold!"

Goosebumps shot down Eva's spine and arms and she suppressed a shiver. She wondered what he meant by 'paint job', then immediately thought of the tattoo on her back. It was a human skull lying on its side with a raven standing behind it and a rose blooming through one of the eye sockets. It was all done in shades of black and grey, except for the rose. That part was bloody red. She tipped her head down so he could see it better, then she looked over her shoulder at him so he could read her lips.

"It's my tattoo," she said. "Sort of like the ones on your face."

Lockdown eyed it. The way his eyes were shaped made it look as if he was leering. "Does it mean anything to you?" he asked.

Eva turned her gaze away momentarily. "It's...sort if in honor of my grandma. The skull represents how I was dead inside before I found her. Ravens are guardians, and she's been my guardian. The rose is new life," she replied.

"Mm, so you weren't born with it? Heh, neat." He smiled a bit.

Eva's stomach flip-flopped. It was a little one, but he _smiled._ To distract herself, she strode toward the water, placing her feet carefully so she didn't step on any sharp rocks or twigs. Just as her toes touched the water, Lockdown's finger connected with her behind and pushed her forward. She squeaked, stumbling forward and dropping into the water. Luckily the shore dropped pretty quickly here so she didn't go smashing into the rocks that lined the shore. But God, the water was cold! She gained her footing on the rocky, slightly muddy ground and stood up, then strode out into a deeper part where she dunked under. When she came back up, she turned to face Lockdown and grinned at him, wiping the water from her eyes. Her hair was flattened back on her head and she probably looked pretty weird to him all wet, she mused.

"Heh. Good to see squishies float. I'd hate to have to go digging for ya," Lockdown smirked.

Eva snickered and swum out deeper, going backward. "We're seventy percent water. Different people have different buoyancy, though. I'm kind of compact, so I don't float as much as taller people," she said.

Lockdown appeared amused. "I could walk on the bottom of the lake," he said. "I don't need to breathe. But I can't 'hear' you underwater, even though I feel more. The vibrations are too intense to make out as anything but a buzz." He reached out and dipped a finger into the water, sending out choppy ripples.

Eva bobbed back forth with the movement of the water. "So you don't swim?" she asked, rhetorically. She was starting to become breathless. Treading cold water sucked the energy right out of you.

"I'm all metal. I kind of...sink. Like a rock," he replied, smirking.

"Come in here anyway," she spat some of the fishy-tasting water out of her mouth.

He tipped his head to the side as if he was thinking about it, then he sat up into a crouch like a feline ready to pounce and launched himself _over_ her. She whipped around to watch as he sailed at least fifty feet out before he went unceremoniously plunging down into the lake, sending up a huge wave. So much for calm water! Eva screeched briefly as the wave he created overtook her and she held her breath as it sucked her under. She swam against the current of the waves and rose to the surface, puffing out her held breath and sucking in a new one. She saw Lockdown had walked to where his head was above the surface and swam toward him with a grin. She wasn't shy at all about being naked, even if he did funny things to her insides, and swam right up to his face. He looked cleaner now.

"I think you'd like Turtle wax," she said, panting slightly from the exertion of swimming through cold water. "It doesn't smell like paraffin."

"How do you—oh," he cut himself off. "I'm guessing you find it in car washes?" he asked.

His hand came up beneath her and she lowered her feet to perch. His hand was deliciously warm under her feet compared to the chilly water. She kept her muscles tense to keep from shivering, but she wasn't sure how long that would last. She was getting pretty damn cold. She swayed with the movement of the water, swooping her arms out to keep herself steady.

"Car washes, auto body shops, the automotive section in big stores..." she trailed off.

"Hmmm," his voice dipped low and he sounded almost like he was purring. "I suppose I'll give it a shot. As long as it's not gonna take my paint off."

Eva shivered, but it wasn't the temperature of the water. "It'll just make you shiny. The lake did the car wash's job by cleaning off all the dirt."

She doubted he even realized how sexy his voice was, and to distract herself, she rambled.

"Turtle wax interior polish would make you all shiny, too. There's also Armor All, but it leaves greasy residue and I don't like it." She glanced up at Lockdown when he lifted his hook out of the water.

He scratched the top of his head with it, but it didn't leave any marks. "I bet it tastes decent. Usually the most disgusting-textured waxes are...ah, you're not Cybertronian, guess you can't relate there," he smirked. "And the water's getting pretty cold for you to be swimming without armor."

Calling clothes armor amused her. "I'm okay for now," she lied. She knew the goosebumps prickled all over her body told Lockdown everything. "What other kinds of things do you eat?" she asked.

Suddenly Lockdown's hand started lifting and Eva had to brace herself. He lifted her out of the water and she sat, folding her legs in front of her Indian style.

"Motor oil," he said. "'Specially when it's kinda bitter."

"Any brands here you prefer?" she figured if he was going to be sticking around that she'd stock up on stuff for him to eat.

"Ehh, nope."

His eyes wandered over her body and her stomach squished in on itself, but her inner promiscuous self made her lean back on her hands. A breeze blew and set her skin prickling with goosebumps all over again, as well as making her nipples pucker.

"So I could go out and buy some regular old motor oil for you?" Eva really had no idea why she wanted to keep him around.

"Anything's good," Lockdown's eyes settled on her breasts. "And you're chest mods are shrinking. S'that normal?"

_Chest mods?_ "Oh," she looked down at her breasts, then back up at him. "Yeah, perfectly normal. The skin tightens when it's cold." She lifted one hand and poked one of her breasts, making it jiggle. "Same thing happens to a man's penis when it gets cold. It shrinks..." she snickered.

"...what the slag is a penis, and do I really want to know?" Lockdown asked, looking a little wary.

"Uhh...it's a dangly thing that hangs between the legs on a guy. Unless he's horny, and then it stands up," Eva snickered again, briefly.

He smirked and even looked smug. "Good thing I don't have to worry about that. On Cybertron, everything's pretty ready to go whenever. None of this 'waiting to get hard' garbage," he said, nonchalant. His eyes flicked down briefly. "Nice port."

Eva's eyebrows went up and she had to think about 'port' for a second, but when it struck her, her face burned so hot she thought for sure she would be glowing red. She wasn't shy before, but her stomach clenched in on itself and she lifted her knees, closing her legs. Her crotch was shaved because she'd always hated pubic hair, and it was just disgusting having to deal with it on her period. So she shaved it all off. She liked being bald there, anyway—only having to worry about a bikini line once a week.

"You have a robo-penis..?" she asked.

Lockdown blinked, then erupted into laughter. He had a cackling laugh. "W-What? No! It's a jack!"

Eva felt her cheeks get even hotter, now knowing that his people could and did have sex. And if it was even possible, she turned even _redder,_ imagining being with Lockdown. Then she felt herself get all hot and tingly, then she got flustered, wondering how screwed up she was to imagine sex with a robot and get hot from the image. But damn it, he was sexy! Lockdown walked to the shore, the water cascading down his body and splashing down noisily. Eva glanced toward the ground and sat up straight, smoothing her hands over her hair and squeezing out excess water. She shivered as the cold water trickled down her back.

Lockdown knelt and lowered his hand, and Eva slid down to her feet. She felt his gaze lingering on her back as she moved to the log to collect her clothes, then heard him transforming back into car mode. She turned to look at him, letting the wind sort of air-dry her body.

"Climb in when you're ready. Don't worry about gettin' anything wet—water never killed anybody." He sounded distracted.

"Okay," she said.

Eva waited a little bit longer—until her skin felt only damp to the touch—and picked her way over the rocky shore to Lockdown. The door was slightly ajar and she stood there for a moment and admired his muscle car body before pulling the door open and planting her bare bottom in his driver seat. She dusted the dirt and sand off her feet before bringing her legs inside, then closed the door and deposited her clothes and shoes on the passenger seat. She noticed clicking and grinding noises, like a hard drive working, and then it abruptly stopped. She was about to ask what it was when his voice issued from the speakers.

"Tell you what—recharge a bit more, and I'll surprise ya in the morning." He sounded almost gleeful.

Could he read her mind or something? "Okay," she answered, smiling a little as she settled back and relaxed in his deliciously warm seat.

The heat and his smooth driving lulled her to sleep again, and she was mostly dry by the time he woke her when they arrived back at the house. She threw on her clothes and grabbed her shoes, sliding out of his cab. She bid him sleep well again, and he mumbled something in return as she exited the garage and dashed inside, taking the stares two at a time to get up to her bedroom.

It was nearing sunrise and her grandmother was easily woken around that time, so Eva moved with the swift, silent grace of a feline as she slipped down the hallway, passed her grandmother's closed bedroom door, and into her own bedroom. She deposited her shoes in the closet and moved into the bathroom attached to her bedroom, pulling off her clothes and discarding them on the floor. She periodically took showers in the wee hours of the morning, so her grandmother wouldn't ask about it if the running water woke her.

Eva started the shower, adjusting the water temperature until it was virtually scalding, and got in. She rinsed off the fishy lake water and remained in the shower until her hands and feet turned red, her thoughts lingering on the not-quite-a-car in the garage. What _was _it about him? Eva didn't understand it! She barely knew him, discovered he was an alien from another planet, learned he was deaf and four billion years her senior on top of that. But none of that derailed or even changed the direction her train of thought was headed.

Eva turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel off the rack on the wall. Bending the waist, she shook her hair down and toweled it dry, then straightened and dried her body. She draped the towel over the top of the shower door and moved out into her room, slapping the light switch off on the way out. She pulled on different underwear and pajamas and climbed into bed. As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered what Lockdown's surprise would be.


	3. Knight of Shining Armor

"Eva..."

Lockdown's breath was ragged in her ear and his mouth was hot on her skin. She couldn't remember how it started, but she didn't want it to end. His hand squeezed her backside and his hook made short work of her pants and underwear. His hand slid up under her shirt and fondled her right breast, but his mouth captured any moans that slipped free of her lips. Her shirt went next, pulled up over her head and discarded carelessly, then his mouth covered the scars marring her throat while his hand dropped between her legs. His fingers touched the hottest part of her and she grabbed his wrist, a moan wrenching from her throat. He snapped his hand back and grabbed her thigh, hitching her leg up around his hip as he lowered himself on top of her. His pulsing, hot member slid inside her and—

—Eva jolted awake. What was _that?_ She threw the blankets off and rose out of bed to pace the floor. Wet dreams with Lockdown? She'd imagined sex with him briefly at the lake and—how could she even know if that's how his people did it anyway? He said he had a _jack_, not a robot penis. Or was it same difference?

Eva threw her hands up and pulled her own hair, crossing to her bathroom and twisting the coldwater knob. She stuck her hands under the stinging cold stream and bent at the waist, splashing the water over her face. She straightened and leaned on the counter, eyeing herself in the mirror. Light from the windows on the other side of the room caught the water droplets on her face and made it appear as if she were made of glass. She wiped her hands over her face and grabbed the hand towel, patting her face dry. She relieved herself, gave her hands a quick wash, then went downstairs to cook breakfast.

"Good morning, Babička," Eva said as she entered the kitchen, passing the dining table and reaching up to open a cupboard. A silver teakettle sat warming on a burner on the stove.

She took a heavy white mug from the cupboard and stepped over to the table, turning and extending her arm to set the cup down. Only then did she notice just _who_ was sitting at the table. And it wasn't her grandmother.

"Whoa!" Eva squeaked, dropping the cup and leaping backward into the counter. Luckily the cup didn't break when it landed.

_Lockdown_ was sitting at the table! Lockdown! Human sized! Eva could hardly wrap her head around it. She stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, and heat flooded her face and fluttered in the pit of her stomach. She must look ridiculous to him—hair a wild mess from drying while she slept, clothes wrinkled and uneven. But the images from the lake and her dream suddenly weren't so far-fetched...

Lockdown smirked at her, slick and smug. "Holograms are the best thing ever," he said, lifting his hand and—

—Eva stared in bewilderment as he _picked up the cup._ She leaned back against the counter, bracing herself with one hand as she lifted the other and pointed at him. Words were impossible to form at the moment. Not only was he human sized, he was solid! Some sly side of her mind secretly thanked God behind her back while she was still reeling. Lockdown rose from the table. Eva watched him, her cheeks flushing hot.

"You like?" he asked, smoothly.

She forced her brain and mouth to work. "I like," she answered.

He stepped away from the table and came right up to her. She tilted her head back to look up at him as his shadow fell over her. So much for human sized—he towered an entire two feet—give or take a few inches—over her. She was five-foot-three, so that would make him _seven_ feet. Not many humans were seven feet tall. His arm reached around her and set the cup she dropped on the table onto the counter.

"You look different up close," he said. His lips twitched in a half-smile and he raised his hand, hesitantly running his fingers through her messy, tangled hair. He blinked. "It's softer than it looks," he murmured.

She felt her cheeks get a little hotter. "Conditioner helps,"

"That's...like wax for humans, I guess?"

"Sort of. Lotion is more like wax for humans,"

Lockdown started leaning closer and Eva's insides clenched tight, her fingers curling around the edge of the counter. She watched his eyes as his face got closer and—steam erupted from the teakettle suddenly, making Eva jump and setting her ears ringing with the deafening shriek only feet away. Lockdown jerked back sharply, his optics going wide. Eva whipped around and grabbed the kettle by the handle, lifting it off the burner and setting it down on the stovetop, turning the burner dial to off with a flick of her wrist. The shrieking of the steam from the kettle died almost instantly.

Eva heaved a sigh and clapped a hand over her chest. "Jesus...that scared the crap out of me," she turned and looked at Lockdown, whom was hovering near the table. "You okay?"

He let out a quick laugh. "What the slag is that thing? Human fuel?"

"One of many forms," she answered as she turned, opening a box near the stove and pulling out a tea bag.

She pulled the cup closer and put the tea bag in it, looping the string through the handle, then picked up the teakettle and poured some of the boiling water into the cup, leaning away from the steam as it billowed out and made her eyes water. She added four sugar cubes and took a spoon from the silverware drawer, lifting the tea bag out of the cup a bit and stirring to dissolve the sugar. The tea gave off a bittersweet scent and gradually turned the water deep, reddish brown as she set the cup aside and let it steep.

Lockdown leaned against the counter and she flashed him a quick smile as she leaned over, got a skillet from a low cookware cabinet and set it on the stove. Then she got a box of hash browns from the freezer, flicking open the end.

"Did my grandma see you?" Eva asked him.

Lockdown tilted his head to the side and watched the tea steep. "Ahh, dunno. I was sleepin' until an hour before you got up. I sensed somebody sweeping a bit, though. Didn't move...old human fuel pumps fail easy, or so I've read," he answered.

_Fuel pumps must be their equivalent to a heart_, Eva thought, and nodded. "She might be taking a bath."

Eva moved the skillet onto a large burner and went about making breakfast. Lockdown watched her quietly as she fried a serving of hash browns, scrambled and fried two eggs, boiled water and made oatmeal, toasted and buttered two slices of bread, and served it all up onto plates and a bowl for the oatmeal. Eva loved cooking, and she didn't mind Lockdown watching her. He was probably so curious it ached. She put the plate of scrambled eggs and bowl of oatmeal into the microwave to keep it warm for her grandmother, then transferred her own plate of toast and hash browns and cup of tea to the table.

"I...might disappear when she shows up again. Wouldn't want to scare her. My face isn't exactly winning blue ribbons," Lockdown said, but his voice didn't carry any hint of shame. He actually sounded kind of proud.

Eva sat down at the table, tucking one leg up under the other. She liked his face. "Okay." She plucked up the fork and stirred the hash browns, mixing in the maple syrup she'd added to them. "You can stay as long as you like, though, in the garage," she added, looking up at him as she forked some of the hash browns into her mouth.

"Sure." He stepped over to the table and slid down into the chair across from her.

Lockdown watched her eat, then stuck his finger into the hash browns and tasted the syrup that came away on his fingertip. His mouth twisted and his narrow eyes narrowed even more. Eva snickered. That was definitely an "ew" face.

"Don't like it?" she asked.

"Too sweet for me," he answered. His eyes flicked to the kettle and he eyed it warily.

"Maybe the tea? It's not very sweetened, and black tea is kind of bitter anyway, even with sugar." She paused and followed his gaze to the kettle sitting on the stove, then looked back at him and smiled. "It won't whistle again. It's not on the burner," then she noticed he wasn't looking at her, so he didn't know she'd said anything.

Lockdown looked back at her, his eyes studying her face, then he shifted. "Um, I probably shouldn't. Dunno what it'd do to my fuel tanks even if I liked it." Her expression must have told him she spoke.

"Okay. When did you last eat?" she asked, conversationally. She kept her ears tuned for footsteps upstairs.

"I only need to fuel up once a week at the least, and I had some good stuff about three days ago. I'm good," he replied.

Eva ate her breakfast quietly after that and Lockdown watched her, sitting as still as a statue. It was hard not to notice him sitting there—he stuck out like a sore thumb against the Eastern European décor. When she finished her breakfast, she got up and deposited her plate in the sink, giving it a quick rinse under the faucet, then sat back down to enjoy her tea. She stirred it a few times, then lifted the cup to her lips and lightly blew on the steaming liquid before taking a sip. It was pretty strong now, so she set the cup down and took the tea bag out, cupping it in her fingers as she leaned over and opened the cabinet door below the sink, tossing the tea bag into the garbage can hidden there under the sink.

She closed the door and sat back, licking her fingers so they wouldn't get sticky right away. She noticed a ridge above Lockdown's eye raise when she did that, then he quickly looked away, pressing his lips together slightly. She quirked her lips in a small grin and lifted the cup to her lips again, slowly sipping the hot, bittersweet tea. He raised his arm and rubbed the side of head, and at the same moment something beeped and a light on his arm lit up.

"Whoops—gotta get that." And his hologram vanished with a weird noise that sounded almost like a sneeze.

Eva blinked. Phone call, maybe? Then, as if on cue, light footsteps shuffled through the upstairs hallway and descended the stairs. A delicate old woman came into the kitchen, wrapped in her floral-pattern bathrobe. Her long silver locks were damp and woven into a thick, loose braid. Eva smelled rosemary and lavender as she passed, moving over to the chair that Lockdown had occupied only moments before.

"Good morning, _anděl,"_ Cecilija said.

"Good morning, Babička," Eva replied as she stood and retrieved the plate and bowl from the microwave and set them on the table. "Do you mind if I finish my tea outside?" she asked.

Cecilija sat down and smiled. "Of course not. Enjoy your tea, my angel."

Eva kissed Cecilija's cheek, picked up her cup and left the kitchen, leaving her grandmother to enjoy her eggs and oatmeal, and went outside through the side door. She glanced up at the sky and noticed dark clouds were rolling in as she crossed the grass barefoot, entering the garage through its side door. Lockdown sat there in car mode, looking as innocent as a muscle car with red windows and spikes could. Which wasn't very much, admittedly.

"I need to scram for a few days. Got a mission to take care of," Lockdown said the moment the door closed.

Eva's spirits dropped. "Oh...okay. A bounty or something?"

"Yeah. Shouldn't take long," he paused. He seemed reluctant to leave. "Two days...three, if the guy's slippery."

"Okay. Well...be safe," she reached out and laid a hand on his hood.

"See ya soon, Eva." He almost _purred_ her name as he backed out of the garage and coasted into the street, then took off with a roar of his engine.

Eva walked to the end of the garage and waved as he went, then it was suddenly..._empty_...inside the garage. She turned and stood there, looking into the garage at her lonely motorcycle. She missed Lockdown already. It was strange that she felt enough for him already to _miss_ him when he left. Strange, and frightening. She'd only cared for Cecilija, because Cecilija was the only one who cared for _her._ She wondered why she cared for him so much so soon as she headed back into the house.

"Who was driving that delightful engine?" Cecilija asked as Eva came back into the kitchen.

Eva grinned a moment. "New neighbor," which was sort of true.

"What kind of car?"

Eva found it highly amusing—and very cool—that her tiny little grandma liked muscle cars. But she wouldn't reveal Lockdown without his permission, so she spat out a quick lie. "A restored '69 Charger,"

"Mm," Cecilija swallowed a mouthful of oatmeal, "nice car."

Eva's thoughts were on Lockdown when she answered, "Yes, it is."

†††

Two-and-a-half days went by, all of which were dreary and rainy. Eva went about her normal life, except that she was often distracted by thoughts of Lockdown. She hoped her distraction wasn't obvious, but a few of her co-workers were apparently highly observant, and one was even ballsy enough to ask, "So who's the guy?" Eva had not taken kindly to that question for some reason, and quickly chalked it up to nearing her monthly cycle.

Eva finished locking up the pub restaurant and bar she worked at and went to the back to get ready to leave. She pulled on her riding chaps, buckled and zipped them up, checked the back door to make sure it was locked, then grabbed her jacket and helmet and walked to the front door. She pulled on her jacket and riding gloves as she stepped out, then tucked her helmet under her arm as she closed and locked the door. When she turned, she spotted a scraggly-looking man astride her motorcycle, trying and failing to get it started. It was a kick-start, and those could be a real bitch to start, and he was kicking hard enough, but...it needed a key to be in the ignition, turned to 'ON' in order to start the engine. And said key was in Eva's pocket.

"Hey!" she cried. Her voice was coarse, but she managed to make it loud enough to be heard over the patter of the rain, and _oh,_ it hurt!

The man looked up. His face was pale and he looked like he was suffering street drug withdrawal. "Shit!" he hissed, trying harder to kick-start the Harley.

"You need a key, you moron!" Eva said as she marched over and grabbed the man by his shirt and coat.

She stepped away from her motorcycle and yanked him off, actually managing to throw him to the sidewalk. A mild tremor rumbled along the ground, but in this storm it was probably distant thunder. The man flailed and rolled, then scrambled to his feet and grabbed her, harshly shoving his hands into her pockets and groping her. She carried a tube of lipstick or gloss in her jacket pocket and a wallet in the back left pocket of her jeans, but it was attached to her belt by a chain and wouldn't come away easily. Tires squealed in the background as Eva screeched and fought back, dropping her helmet to the sidewalk. It hit with a hollow _thunk-clack._

"Get off me!" Eva screeched.

"Gimme your cash!" the man growled, and his breath smelled like urine and bad eggs.

"Fuck you!" she yelled.

Shoving alone wasn't working, so Eva kicked his shin and shoved him away. Her riding boots were pretty heavy-duty, and made an audible crack against the man's leg.

"Ow! Little bitch!" the man snarled, pulling a switchblade pocketknife from his jeans pocket and flipping the blade out.

The flash of the blade triggered horrible memories of the hotel room and Eva froze, her face losing color. She heard the whistle of something whipping through the air and the man thrust out with the knife, but at the same moment he was violently yanked to the side by some invisible force, the knife's blade missing it's intended target by three or four inches and sinking into her side, under her skin and into the muscle. The man flew into the side of a van, his body leaving a dent from the force with which he was thrown, then dropped limply to the wet pavement. He didn't move.

Eva didn't make a single sound when the blade slid into her side. Her only reaction was to look down at the blade jutting out of her side at an odd angle, one gloved hand going up and loosely wrapping around the knife handle. She didn't pull it out, instead watching her blood slowly seep into her grey T-shirt.

Lockdown suddenly skidded to a stop next to her bike, his passenger door swinging open and barely missing the foot peg.

"Eva, c'mon before the cops swarm!" he said.

Eva leaned over awkwardly and picked up her helmet, looking at her motorcycle. Then she limped over to Lockdown and stiffly slid down into his passenger seat, tossing her helmet into his driver seat as she pulled the door closed. He pulled out onto the street and actually moved to run over the man who stabbed her, but she grabbed his steering wheel and turned it sharply, jerking him off course.

"Don't," she panted.

"Okay, okay." He slammed on his brakes and she had to brace herself, pain lancing through her side. "I'm gonna get you repaired. Just don't move too much," his voice rumbled from the speakers.

Eva watched the seatbelt snake out and carefully buckle her into the seat, then he peeled out onto the street just as police squad cars, motorcycles and bots swarmed the pub. They paid no mind to the muscle car speeding away. He took the shortest route possible to the nearest hospital, and she knew he was being as careful as he could, but every bump and turn made her dizzy with pain as the knife blade was shifted. She looked down at the knife again. More blood was soaking into her shirt.

"It's not bad," Eva said to herself more than Lockdown. "Ugh."

"Last time I checked, it's not so hot when you're leaking blood."

He made it to the hospital in record time and even cut off an ambulance as he pulled into the parking lot, screeching to a halt in the emergency lane and swinging his passenger door open. He blared his horn loudly and an on-break nurse outside puffing on a cigarette stepped forward, ready to tell the idiot in the emergency lane it was for ambulances only. Eva unbuckled the seat belt and slid her legs out, reaching up and grabbing the edge of Lockdown's roof as she scooted to the edge of his seat and stiffly stood, gripping his roof for leverage. She leaned on his door and leveled a dark glare at the nurse. He spotted the knife sticking out of her and stuffed his cigarette butt into the nearest ash-tray-garbage-can combination and rushed inside, calling for help.

A team of nurses came running, one pushing a wheelchair, and they ushered her into the wheelchair and whisked her away inside, asking her what happened and for her information. She rattled off her name, her grandmother's name, and the number to the house, and mentioned the moron who tried to steal her motorcycle without the key and ended up stabbing her when he tried to take her money but couldn't find her wallet.

"It's just under my skin...nowhere vital, like my stomach," Eva said and grimaced as they lifted her onto a gurney in the ER and peeled her jacket off of her, tossing it aside.

They rushed around, pulling latex gloves on, grabbing gauze, surgical forceps, bandage scissors, and calling orders for medication, iodine, an IV and saline for a drip and wash. One of the nurses started cutting her shirt open up the middle and ripped the hole made by the knife larger, then three nurses worked the shirt off and tosses it to the floor to join her jacket. Latex-covered fingers probed her stomach and a doctor came in.

"What do we got?" he asked as he took over probing Eva's stomach.

"Abdominal stab wound, the blade is lodged in the oblique muscle wall. She's lucky it didn't hit anything vital," a nurse replied.

"Let's get this knife out, then."

The knife was slowly and carefully pulled out, a finger slipping into the wound to check for hemorrhaging and Eva groaned loudly, slamming her hands down on the edges of the gurney and digging her fingers in. The knife was dropped into a metal bin when it was removed, and the doctor and nurses started stuffing gauze into the wound with their fingers, soaking up the blood. They squirted saline solution into it to flush out any debris and used the iodine to clean it.

The iodine was Eva's breaking point. She screamed and shouted hoarsely, cursing God for the pain. She lifted her hands out of their way and held them up near her face, clenching them tightly into fists. It seemed to go on forever—the poking, prodding, sticking of fingers into the hole in her side, the _pain._ Eva started to cry, covering her face with her hands. Two nurses grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face, one of them holding her hand and petting her hair while the other stuck an IV needle into her other arm and hooked her up to a saline drip. The nurse left momentarily and when she came back, she had a syringe. She pulled off the cap on the needle and pushed it into a plastic piece attached to the IV line, compressing the plunger with her thumb and injecting something.

It didn't take long for the wound to stop bleeding, and the doctor sutured it closed with a curved needle, wiped it clean and bandaged it. By then, whatever drug the nurse had injected Eva with was making her drowsy and the pain was fading. Her ruined shirt was stuffed into a biohazard bag, and her jacket was placed on the counter near the gurney. They kindly left her bra in tact and draped a warm blanket over her.

Eva turned her head and looked at the remaining nurse as she took her vitals. "What'd you give me?" she slurred.

The nurse—a pretty redhead, Eva noticed—looked at her and smiled. "Morphine. Good stuff, eh?"

Eva grinned and closed her eyes. The nurse finished taking her vitals, tucked the blanket up around her shoulders, then left, pulling a curtain closed to give her privacy. Eva thought she heard footsteps, but it was probably the nurse who just left.

"I should've run over that idiot," came Lockdown's voice, right beside her.

Eva turned her head and opened her eyes, looking up at him drowsily. "He dented th' van with his body. He'll prob'ly die from a punctured lung or something," she mumbled.

His lips pulled into a frown and he lifted his hand, awkwardly brushing her hair off her cheek. His fingers were warm. "Does it still...hurt?" he asked softly.

Eva grinned tiredly. "A little bit. Morphine's great," she replied, tipping her head toward his hand.

Lockdown eyed the bag hanging from the IV stand. "You're getting wasted, aren't you?" he half-grinned, his face looking harsh in the dimmed overhead lights.

Eva looked at the bag. "That's just saline...keeping me hydrated," she turned her gaze back to him, "but you could say m'getting wasted, heh, heh. Morphine's a narcotic."

"Mm, where I'm from, there's stuff called destronium. Usually it's used for circuitry, but if you melt it down and drink it, you go tripping pretty bad," he said.

So they had drugs on his world, too. And from how he said, it sounded like he'd tried that destronium stuff. His expression while he said it told her he didn't much like it.

"It'll wear off in four hours or so," Eva said about the morphine, staring up at the ceiling for a moment. "I hope my grandma doesn't freak out..."

"Me too," Lockdown murmured. "When do you think you'll be out of here?"

"Prob'ly when the morphine wears off. Or they might keep me overnight for observation...dunno." She lifted her hand and pushed the blanket down, then clumsily groped for Lockdown's hand.

She found his hook and started to curl her fingers around it, but he picked up her hand with his and wrapped his fingers around it gently. His hand almost completely engulfed hers. She curled her fingers around his thumb and he held her hand delicately, as if it might break. She rested her other hand on her bare, flat stomach. She could feel her own pulse under her fingers.

"Maybe you should recharge," said Lockdown.

Eva squeezed his hand lightly. "Stay with me?" she asked.

"I'll have to disappear if the medics come in here, but...sure," he answered, seating himself on the edge of the gurney.

Eva smiled sleepily and shut her eyes, giving his hand another light squeeze. She relaxed and fell asleep in just minutes, the morphine putting her out pretty quickly. She slept deeply and didn't dream.


	4. The lines begin to blur

Around six hours later, Eva woke up to a painfully full bladder and glanced around, shifting one leg up slightly. She muttered something about having to pee and Lockdown looked around, accidentally pressing the call button. His eyes shot open wide and he vanished just seconds before an on-call nurse popped in.

"What's up?" he asked.

Eva looked at him. "I gotta pee," she rasped.

He walked over to a cabinet and opened the door, reaching in and grabbing something. He returned with a bedpan and Eva balked.

"A bedpan? Are you _kidding_ me?"

The nurse shrugged. "The bathroom's kind of far away, and I figured you wouldn't want to walk that far,"

_Is this guy an idiot?_ Eva huffed quietly. She really _didn't_ feel like getting up to walk, but damned if she was going to use a bedpan like an invalid. "Can't you get a wheelchair? I really don't want to piss in a pan. These things are for puking in."

The nurse chuckled softly. "Alright. I'll be right back, then." He said, then turned and left.

Eva glared at the metal bedpan in her hand. Her reflection was distorted and she looked pale and disheveled.

"That's funny," Lockdown snickered. "Pissing. Finally, a term we both use the same way," he grinned.

Eva glanced at Lockdown and snickered softly. He was just slipping out from behind the cabinet he was hiding behind when the nurse came back with a wheelchair, and he ducked back behind it, utterly silent. Eva moved the bedpan out of the way and very slowly sat up, groaning. The nurse positioned the wheelchair next to the gurney and pressed a footbrake down, then moved to help her down into the chair. The nurse twisted a little plastic knob on the IV line below the banana bag, then disconnected her from the IV, pushing the stand out of the way. The nurse didn't notice it, but Eva saw the stand hit Lockdown in the face. His red eyes narrowed into slits and he glowered at the thing as the nurse wheeled her away.

Once in the bathroom, Eva limped to the toilet and grudgingly worked her pants and underwear down, stiffly sitting down to relieve herself. Eva _never_ wanted to see another pocketknife ever again. They always seemed to find a way into her body one way or another. She managed to get lucky so far and her vital organs, veins and arteries were spared the wrath of the one wielding the blade. But luck always ran out, and Eva didn't want to be anywhere _near_ a knife when hers decided to skip town.

Eva finished up and stood, slowly working her underwear and pants back up, then she zipped, buttoned and buckled her pants, belt and chaps. She limped over to the sink and washed her hands, then splashed some water over her face and used the available paper towels to dry her hands and face before shuffling out to the nurse and sinking into the wheelchair. She wanted to ask him for another shot of morphine as he wheeled her back to the room, but she didn't want to stick around in the hospital. Too many people poking, prodding and asking questions. After the surgery on her throat, she's developed a habit of sneaking out of hospitals before she was scheduled for release. A habit Cecilija hated.

Lockdown was still hiding behind the supply cabinet when the nurse wheeled Eva back to the room and helped her back up onto the gurney. He adjusted the top of the bed into a neutral half-sitting position and removed the bedpan, draping the blanket over her. He reconnected the IV and opened up the line and checked the bag, taking a quick log of her vitals.

"Hungry at all?" he asked.

Eva lay back, gripping the blanket and pulling it up a bit. "No...just thirsty," she whispered.

There was a small tray cart holding a pitcher of water sitting near the gurney and Lockdown nudged it with his foot, making it roll a few inches. Eva bit her lip to keep from grinning.

"I'll get you some wa—" the nurse eyed the cart when it moved. "I'll get you some water."

He got a disposable foam cup from a nearby counter and sidestepped over to the cart, cautiously reaching for the pitcher of water and eyeing it suspiciously. Eva watched him, pressing her lips together to hold back a grin. She knew Lockdown was messing with him. The nurse picked up the pitcher and poured some water into the cup, then set the pitcher down and got one of those bendy straws, ripping the plastic packaging off of it and sticking it into the water before handing it to Eva.

"How's your pain?" he asked.

Eva took the cup and adjusted the straw. "Kicking my ass," she admitted.

"I'll get you a Motrin."

Lockdown nudged the cart again, making it roll farther, and the nurse eyed it then quickly left, clearly spooked. Eva and Lockdown snickered.

"He's seen a ghost," Lockdown said. He sounded highly amused.

"Well, hospitals _are_ haunted," Eva teased.

"They're not helpin' you here. Maybe I should get you out myself," Lockdown sidestepped around the cabinet a bit.

_Thank God._ "When he comes back with the Motrin,"

Lockdown scooted back behind the cabinet again, sort of. A moment later the nurse came back with a small plastic cup in his hand, a little white tablet pill rattling around in the bottom. He stopped next to the gurney and held the cup out to her.

"Here you go," he said.

Eva took it and tossed the tablet back, washing it down with the water. "Thanks,"

"You're welcome," he eyed the cart again. "Call me if you need me."

With that, the nurse slipped out again and Lockdown kicked the cart, sending it rolling out after the nurse as if it was chasing him. The poor guy cried out in alarm and ran, and the other nurses laughed. Lockdown grunted out a "hmph", stepped out from behind the cabinet and walked over to the gurney, smirking like a devil. Eva laughed softly.

"It's just a cart, what's his problem?" Lockdown joked. "Like I said, I could get you out of here. Easy." He eyed the nearby window.

Eva followed his gaze to the window. "Babička will be mad, but she knows I hate hospitals."

She sat up stiffly, drinking more of the water and pushing the blanket off. Then she reached up and twisted that little white knob on the IV line, pinching it closed. Looking down at the piece in her arm, Eva made a face and pulled the tape off, then pulled the line out. It pinched and she rubbed the tiny hole, pressing on it.

"Ouch,"

Then she pulled off the pulse monitor and warning alarms went off as she slid down to her feet, grabbing her riding jacket off the counter. Lockdown picked up the blanket on the gurney and wrapped her in it, then wrapped one arm around her shoulders and hooked the other under her knees, scooping her up into his arms. Eva's heart skipped a beat and her cheeks got warmer.

"Hold on," he said, moving to the window and sliding it open.

He climbed up onto the sill and jumped out. They were on the first floor, so it was a short drop and he landed lightly. It was also so dark out by now that Lockdown crossed the parking lot, passing people right by, and they didn't look twice! He seemed surprised when he reached his vehicle self and swung open his passenger door, tipped the seat forward, and loaded her into his backseat. She noticed her helmet was still sitting in his driver seat.

"Let's go somewhere quiet, eh?" he asked, kind of grinning.

Oh, the irony of that question from a guy who was deaf. "Yes, please." Eva smiled.

His hologram vanished and his door swung closed, then he backed out of the parking space he chose and made his way out of the parking lot. Eva rested across his backseat as he drove through town and she noticed he wasn't heading _out_ of town. It was still raining and he must have figured it was too wet for the forest or one of the lakes. Instead he drove to an overpass and parked so his car body blocked the wind and rain. Eva peered out the window and noticed a mattress up where it was dry. She grinned.

"Heh, heh, planning something?" she joked.

His door swung open and his hologram materialized to help her out. He gave her a curious look, his glowing red optics all that was really visible in the dark under the overpass. "Just to make sure you're warm, I guess."

Eva almost laughed as he helped her out of his car body and walked her up to the mattress. The joke clearly went over his head. He leaned over and scrutinized it before he let her sit down. Eva bundled the blanket tighter around herself as she lay back and shook her hair out of her eyes.

"They're probably pissed back there, right now." Lockdown said.

"Probably. But I don't care," Eva replied.

Lockdown lay down on the mattress, settling down face to face with her. It was a twin-size mattress, so they had to lay pretty close. Not that Eva minded. He was warm and she subconsciously scooted a little closer. His head was so close to the cement above them that it touched if he moved a certain way.

"I didn't know human oil smelled like copper," Lockdown murmured, lightly touching her side where the bandage was.

Eva's cheeks flushed a little. "Kinda tastes coppery, too. But it's iron that turns it red. It's actually blue before it's oxygenated."

"Through breathing," he said quietly, staring at her eyes. "While I was dodging the nurse, I saw an ambulance bring in the guy that attacked you. I could have finished the job." His voice dropped to a quiet growl.

Eva freed a hand from the blanket and laid it on his chest. "Don't kill him. He'll probably die from his injuries, anyway. That's good enough, isn't it?" she noticed the more she spoke, the less it hurt to do so. Maybe she just needed to exercise her vocal cords?

"If you want, I'll leave him alone while he's in the hospital. But if he gets better and I see him on the street, I'll make sure he remembers I'm around." His real body's engine revved loudly and in the dark, his glowing eyes seemed demonic.

The corners of Eva's mouth twitched in a little grin. She liked that he seemed to care enough for her to hurt anyone that hurt her. He even seemed to care enough to protect her. Her cheeks got warmer and her heart quickened.

"Lockdown," she murmured, trying to work up the nerve to tell him she _liked_ him.

"Hmm?" his voice was a pleasant rumble under the cement right above them.

She opened her mouth to say it, but her nerve deserted her at the last second and she ended up saying something else. "Thank you,"

He tipped his head back slightly. "Tch, it's no big deal," he sort of winked at her, "but search and rescue isn't in my contract, so you have to pay extra," he joked.

Eva scooted closer to him and pressed her lips to his pale cheek in a kiss. His optics widened but he didn't move back. He blinked a few times, seeming surprised. His cheek was firm and metallic, but it was smooth and even seemed soft. That surprised her and her lips lingered near his cheek.

"I didn't know they kissed on Earth," Lockdown murmured. He sounded a bit amused, and nervous.

"Mhm. They kiss on your world, too?" Eva asked, sort of rhetorically.

She caressed his chest absently and curled her fingers, lightly scraping her black-painted fingernails over the metal lightly. He shivered a bit and his lips twitched as they parted.

"Yeah—ohhh, yeah, we do." He smirked.

His reaction made her tingly and she grinned a little. "Like that?" she asked as she scraped his chest again.

He didn't answer, but the way he pressed into her hand told her he certainly did. She grinned a bit wider, spurred on by his reaction. Her gaze shifted to his lips. It looked like he couldn't kiss with that broad mouth of his, but she would find out one way or another. She was about to ask if she could kiss him when his mouth opened.

"Would you like to try..." he dipped suddenly forward, almost nose to nose, "...a kiss?" he murmured.

Eva answered him by kissing him, moving her hand from his chest and wrapping her arm around his middle as she pressed her body closer to his. His answering kiss was soft and timid, for lack of a better word, but it wasn't clumsy or inexperienced. She wondered if he'd kissed anyone else before her as she pressed her tongue to his lips, silently asking to be let inside, his body becoming noticeably warmer. His mouth opened and she deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth. His mouth was slick and smooth inside and not really wet, like her own was. He seemed warmer on the inside than the outside—she noticed his mouth was rather hot. It was amazing.

Eva pulled back slightly, breathing against his lips. "Wow," she whispered.

Lockdown was silent, but he looked almost stunned and she could feel heat radiating from his face. Blushing, perhaps?

She grinned, taking the moment to feel a bit smug. "Speechless?"

Lockdown looked at her, then leaned in brazenly for another kiss. Eva obliged and grabbed his head in both hands, kissing him a little rougher than before. His initial reaction to her kiss told her he'd probably never been kissed, so she wanted to make it good. Their tongues battled for supremacy and the storm raged above them, rumbling thunder matching the intensity of their kiss.

Eva moved one hand down and grabbed his side, rolling over onto her back and pulling him on top of her. She wasn't afraid of being squished—she _wanted_ to feel his weight on her, and she wondered why she didn't shy away from being so intimate with an alien she still barely knew. Though, in all honest, she didn't care. Lockdown was a person, too. And it wasn't like she'd never been intimate with a complete stranger before.

Lockdown's helm scraped along the cement above them and he growled in annoyance, hooking his fingers under the edge and pulling it off, setting it down beside the mattress. He suddenly paused their kiss, drawing back slightly and looking at her. He seemed self-conscious of the hole through his head.

"Hope it doesn't turn you off," he said quietly.

Eva smiled at him and raised her hands to his head, lightly rubbing her palms over the jagged edges of the holes...caressing. The holes were part of him, and though she was shocked when she first saw them, they didn't detract from his attractiveness or gross her out at all. She hoped touching them proved it to him.

"It doesn't," she said.

Lockdown smiled about as nicely as someone with a face as gruff as his could. "Heh, seems you're soft all over," he thumbed the blanket.

It was falling off and Eva hadn't even noticed. "Not too soft, I hope," she said.

She wiggled beneath him a bit and opened her legs, settling him between them. She was almost half his size, but he still fit between her legs. His face registered surprise as she moved him there, and he seemed hesitant, yet when she pulled him closer for a kiss, he moaned softly and didn't seem to realize he was doing it. It wasn't a sound of pain. Now, just to get the rest of her clothes out of the way...

Admittedly, Eva was surprised at herself for feeling so comfortable doing this with Lockdown—and that it felt _right._ She shifted beneath him and arched her back up, maneuvering her hands underneath herself, unclasping her bra and tugging it off, then setting it aside. Lockdown's gaze dropped to her bare breasts and he lifted his hand, slowly and carefully touching one of her nipples. He seemed afraid he'd hurt her.

His touch sent tingles racing down her spine and the skin of her nipples hardened and puckered in arousal. He stroked and massaged her breast, rubbing his thumb back and forth over her nipple. As he touched her, she experimented by touching him; sliding her hands along his arms, up to his shoulders where she fondled the spikes there. He hissed a little, not seeming to realize he was making any noise. If he did, he didn't care, and he just dove right on down, taking her entire breast into his mouth and tasting her.

"Oh!" Eva arched toward him, her hands flying up to his head.

She rubbed her thumbs over the edges of the holes. His mouth was hot and his tongue felt like slick vinyl against her skin. Goosebumps erupted all over her skin as he ever so carefully nibbled and sucked, swirling his tongue over her nipple. He made her so hot it _ached_. Her thumbs dipped inside the holes in his head slightly, brushing against wiring, and he froze, pulling back slightly. There was a line somewhere in there that was throbbing like a heart.

"Careful what you touch, the wires are vital," Lockdown said.

Eva moved her hands away from the holes. "I won't touch them,"

Eva rubbed up and down the back of his neck, avoiding the spikes on the sides because she wanted to feel his armor, and she didn't want to scratch her wrists. He tipped his head down, exposing more of his neck, and took in a deep breath, sighing against her chest and stomach. His breath was almost as hot as he was. He moved down then, sticking his tongue into her belly button.

"That tickles!" Eva giggled, scraping her fingernails up and down his neck as she tipped her head down to watch him.

She could tell from the way his armor was steadily getting warmer that what she was doing was arousing him. He kept licking and kissing her stomach, prodding her belly button with his tongue. It tickled so much it drove her mad, but it was erotic at the same time. She dropped her hands down from his neck to her hips, unbuckling her belt and undoing her jeans to reveal the waistband of her underwear. Her underwear was black with red lace, matching her bra. She moved her hands back up and resumed caressing and scraping his neck.

"What is it with humans and layers?" Lockdown asked, looking up at her face as he slid the edge of his hook along her hip, got the tip under the waistband of her underwear and lifted it.

"Consider it sort of an equivalent to your armor plating," Eva grinned at him, moving her hands back to her hips and pushing her pants and underwear down a bit.

She pushed them down enough that she could open her legs and let him see her. Her stomach tied in knots when his gaze moved down to her privates. He eyed her, then lifted his hand and poked the wrong hole. She jumped a little and grabbed his wrist, moving his hand up to the right one.

"That one," she said.

Then Eva lifted her knees and pulled her pant legs up, unzipping her boots and taking them off. The rest of her clothes followed and then she lay naked in front of him and her stomach tied into tighter knots, heat flooding her face and swirling through the center of her being. She wasn't nervous being naked in front of him at the lake—but this was a completely different situation. They weren't even _remotely_ close to being intimate at the lake. Lockdown laid his head down on her chest and her heart thumped under his cheek. His metal skin was warm and smooth. Eva watched him quietly, cupping her hands on his head and slowly trailing her fingertips down his neck.

He tipped his head back and looked up at her face again. "Have I hurt you at all?"

She smiled at him and shook her head. "No,"

He flashed a grin. "Good."

Eva gasped and opened her legs wider when the blunt, curved side of his hook brushed over her vulva and touched her clitoris, and he looked a bit surprised when it came away with stringy fluid attached. She was positive he could smell how aroused she was, and he lifted his hook to his face, looking her in the eyes as he licked his hook clean. She felt her face and neck flush hot and sat up on her elbows, biting her bottom lip.

"Let me taste you," she said.

He half-smiled. "I taste like stainless steel," he replied, but he shifted and lay back on the mattress.

Lockdown's codpiece slid away and his jack extended. He was visibly tense, and he did it slowly. It looked like a giant microphone jack—and in proportion to his size, it was about fourteen inches long and about as big around as an umbrella handle. Eva's eyebrows went up as his jack fully extended. He was huge! She had some pretty sizeable sex toys at home, so she was pretty sure she could accommodate his girth...but his length? Definitely not all of it. But damn, this seemed like it was going to be her best time yet. She scooted closer and ghosted her fingertips along his length, then wrapped her hand around the head and rubbed her thumb back and forth over the tip.

His reaction was sudden. His hand flew down to the mattress and he gripped the edge. "Augh!" he gasped.

Nothing about his body language told her to stop, so she watched his face as she slid her hand down to the base and leaned in, running her tongue over the tip before she dipped her head down and took the entire head into her mouth. His legs twitched and his hand flew to the back of her head, gently gathering a handful of her hair and lightly gripping. He might have been a mechanical being from an alien world, but his reaction was about as human as it got. So she treated his jack like a penis, gently sucking as she slowly stroked the shaft. She made a soft noise to enhance the feeling, sending light vibrations into his jack.

"Ohh, Eva..." Lockdown groaned.

That groan sounded almost like it came straight from her dream and Eva's arousal shot up so fast she had to refrain from shoving a hand between her legs and fingering herself. Lockdown's jack was getting hot and she could feel static buzzing around her lips. She drew back after a moment and licked her lips. His real body's engine revved a few times.

"Tingly," she grinned at him.

"You're good," he purred. "Now let me try."

He pushed her over playfully and she flopped onto her back, spreading her legs for him as he moved his face down between them. His silver tongue flicked out and lapped at her outer labia. She bit her lip as she watched and he moved in closer, slipping his tongue past her outer labia as he licked and sucked the hottest part of her. She shivered and grabbed his head lightly; opening her legs wider and rolling her hips toward him as she let her head fall back.

"Ohh..." she moaned softly.

Eva mewled and shuddered, holding him there. She'd been given oral before, by boyfriends in junior high and high school, but never like this. She almost didn't realize how much noise she was making because her throat throbbed with only a mild ache. She never thought she could _be_ so noisy, what with her vocal cords being so messed up.

"Ohhh, God! Mmm!"

Lockdown used his tongue instead of his fingers to explore inside her, his teeth barely grazing her skin as he slid his tongue out, then back in, licking and sucking. His mouth was amazing! Eva tensed up and trembled, feeling herself nearing an orgasm. But he suddenly paused and drew back, licking his lips. She whined and moved one hand between her legs, rubbing at herself a bit. He turned to the side and gave her a sidelong glance, thumbing his jack a bit. He was flirting!

"Want some of this?" he cooed.

"Yes, I do," Eva purred, pulling her knees up a little.

She used her fingers to spread open her outer labia a little, inviting him. He moved in over her and gazed into her eyes, silently asking her if she was sure. She lifted her hands and rubbed them over his chest, looking back into his crimson eyes as she slid her hands down his sides and nodded once. Then she moved one hand between them and lightly grasped his jack, guiding him inside.

Eva gasped and moaned as his jack slipped inside her, sliding her arms around his waist. His jack was straight and rigid, but she had a similar sex toy at home—a thick, metal rod with a vibrating bullet inside—so she was somewhat accustomed to having something rigid and metal inside her...and she loved it. She wasn't a virgin—far from it—but his jack was thick enough that it almost felt like she was again. Lockdown hid his face against the mattress, pressing it down next to her shoulder. Doing so muffled the noises he was making, which sounded like odd, strangled groans and growls. They made the gaping hole through his head more obvious, but Eva didn't care. He couldn't hear himself, after all, so she could hardly blame him for making weird, awkward noises.

She pressed one hand to his back and moved the other up to his head, caressing it lightly. Turning her head, she brushed her lips over the edge of the hole in his head, her breath puffing hot against the exposed wires. Then she realized she was breathing on those wires and turned her head away slightly, hoping she didn't hurt him. He turned his head and his breath was hot on her ear.

"Eva," he _growled_ her name. A sound of pure desire. "You're wet." He smirked at her.

Lockdown rocked his hips gently, watching her face closely. Eva tilted her head back and closed her eyes, moaning his name. He purred and growled and she _loved_ how he sounded. She hoped he was more vocal as she tightened her body around his jack and rolled her hips, meeting his thrusts. His face gave away everything his voice didn't as his eyes stayed fixed on her, watching her every reaction as he found a rhythm that worked for both of them. She felt him push in deeper and moaned, arching her body against his as she clung to him and held on for dear life, her flushed cheek pressed against his white one. His hook dug into the mattress and his hand clutched her shoulder.

Lockdown's thrusts became a little shallow and he was so tense he trembled. He seemed to be having a hard time controlling himself but somehow Eva knew he wouldn't hurt her, even when she reached down and grabbed his aft, hooking her legs around behind his knees. She hoped she wasn't testing his self-control anymore than she knew she already was.

"More!" she begged, tugging on his aft a bit to emphasize what she wanted.

That tug was all the encouragement Lockdown needed and he started thrusting harder. Eva tightened around his jack again, moving her arms up around his waist. Her face scrunched up in a pleasured grimace, her lips pulling away from her teeth, but she didn't care how she looked anymore—it felt too damn good to focus on anything else. She also didn't care that she was practically shouting into Lockdown's non-existent ear. She normally wasn't very vocal during sex, or even when she masturbated, but this time she could barely control it. He couldn't hear her, but he could _feel_ her, and she was pretty sure he knew how much she liked this. Especially when she finally reached the orgasm that dwindled from before.

The roiling conflagration that had been steadily building suddenly exploded and Eva wailed to the concrete above them. She curled toward Lockdown and ground her hips against his as best she could, clinging tightly to his waist. The moment her body clenched around his jack, his eyes closed, his jaw tightened and he gasped through clenched teeth. He didn't make any noise beyond a soft whimper, but his pinched expression and the way he shook told her he'd reached his own orgasm. She felt his jack get hotter and even felt the static buzz, which only heightened her experience and she let her head fall back.

It seemed to go on forever, but lasted only seconds, and Eva collapsed beneath Lockdown, letting her arms drop to the mattress though her hands stayed on his sides. She opened her eyes and stared up at the concrete, breathing heavily and twitching with delightful aftershocks. Then she shifted her gaze to Lockdown's face. He was panting and seemed almost ready to pass out. His crimson eyes met her ghostly blue ones and he quirked a cheeky grin at her.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi to you," she grinned back at him. "That was...wow. I get stabbed and have the best sex ever all in one day."

"It was pretty amazing," he murmured, smiling a little.

Lockdown just looked at her then, his eyes a fraction softer than they had been before. The rest of his face was relaxed into the leering scowl that always seemed to be present, his broad mouth naturally tilted into a frown. Eva gazed back at him, her eyes studying his face. Then she moved her hands up, exploring the planes and angles of his face with her fingers. She traced her fingertips over the high planes of his cheekbones—though she absently wondered if robots even _had_ bones—and lightly rubbed her thumbs over the black marks that adorned the angled slopes of his forehead, cheeks and chin.

They had a faint texture to them, showing they had been painted on. She brushed her thumb across his small, flat nose and outlined his optics, then traced the contours of his lips with her fingertips. They were full and firm, and his lower lip covered most of his upper lip because of the way his jaw jutted out. While she'd been kissing him, she discovered his teeth came together perfectly with no under-bite, as the shape of his jaw suggested.

Lockdown studied her the same way, gently tracing the shape of her face with his thumb. He ran his thumb across her eyebrow and around the contour of her eye socket, following the shape of the bone. His fingertips caressed her temple as his thumb traced down her cheek and across her jaw, running across her lips before his hand cupped her cheek. Then he shifted his body and slid his jack out of her, settling down beside her on the mattress. She turned onto her side to face him, scooting up against his chest.


	5. Painful memories are shared

"You aren't getting cold, are you?" Lockdown asked, his eyes glancing over her body briefly as his hook moved down to her hip.

The occasional breezes that were funneled under the overpass were chilly, but Eva answered honestly. "Nope. Not here with you,"

Eva wondered for the millionth time why she felt so comfortable with him. They were _worlds_ apart, but it felt...right, being with him. They were both damaged, and he didn't seemed to care that she was. Nor did she care that he was. She accepted him, deafness and all. He didn't need to hear to know what he did to her. He had four other perfectly good senses.

Lockdown reached back and picked up his helm, sliding it back on and snapping it into place. Eva noticed he seemed to struggle for something to say. It was pretty obvious he was used to being alone.

"You're different," he finally said, quietly.

"Good different, or bad different?" she asked.

He smirked. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't like ya."

Eva was also used to being alone, often rejected by foster families and boyfriends. Growing up in Slovakia with parents who were too busy arguing to take care of their daughter, she was a latchkey kid and pretty much raised herself. When it got too hard for them, she was dumped into the government's childcare system. Eva's thoughts were broken when Lockdown touched one of her labret lip studs. She smiled at him and brushed her hair away from her ear. She wore a stainless steel crescent-shaped earring and two small hoops in both ears. The crescent-shaped earrings appeared to be solid gauging pieces called pinchers, but they weren't. The back halves mirrored the front and snapped onto the posts.

"Like my piercings?" Eva asked.

"Why'd you get 'em?" Lockdown asked in response, his hook lightly brushing over the earrings.

She shrugged her shoulder once. "I wanted to. I like them. Other people have insane body mods. Mine are considerably tame, compared. This looks like a gauge, but it's not," she moved her hands up and pulled the halves of the crescent apart, pulling the post of out of her earlobe, "the idea of stretching a big hole into my ear kind of irks me."

Lockdown examined the earring and then smirked a bit as she put it back on. He shifted onto his back a bit and grabbed his right forearm with his left hand, twisting it and popping it off at the elbow. It left him with a stub of an upper arm. Eva's eyebrows went up slightly. His people took body modification to a whole new level.

"I...collect mods," he said hesitantly.

"Whoa. Body mods for your people are...entire body parts?" she asked as she reached out and touched the stub of his arm. "Makes sense. Humans can't exactly replace a limb with something cooler because they want to." Curiosity niggled at her. "Did it hurt?"

"Nah," he replied. "I just twist and snap it on." He showed her the connecting pins in the elbow joint before he snapped his arm back on. "I didn't always look like this. Just as you weren't born with studs and that red paint you sometimes have on your mouth."

Eva ducked her head and chuckled softly. Lockdown thought makeup was paint! Well, that was partly true; some makeup was liquid or cream, like lipstick or gloss, and had to be 'painted' or dabbed on with a fingertip. She looked back up at him.

"It's not exactly paint," she explained. "It's called lipstick, or lip gloss. Lip_stick_ is actually stick. Lip _gloss_, though, is kind of a gel, so I guess it could be considered paint. It has to be brushed on."

"I'm guessing it's something to do with getting a guy's attention, too." He looked amused, and even a little smug. "I kinda like it, but you look pretty good without it, too."

Eva smiled. "You guess correctly. I wear it because I like it, though."

Eva preened inwardly at the comment. It made her feel good about herself.

"Are your black marks just paint, or like tattoos?" she asked him.

"Tattoos...those ink marks that don't wash off easy? Hmmm, yeah, you could say that." He scratched his cheek with the tip of his hook and it didn't even leave a mark on the paint.

"Yeah, like the one on my back. That doesn't come off at all. It'll fade over time, but it won't come off. It's in the skin permanently."

Lockdown was quiet for a moment, then said warily, "I collect mods off other bots."

Eva watched his face as he spoke. He was hesitant and tense, not meeting her eyes. She admitted to herself that it was a little creepy—taking body parts from other people—but she touched his hook anyway.

"Is this one?" she asked.

He nodded slowly, watching her mouth instead of her eyes. "Most of the mods are...trophies." He told her quietly.

"So you don't wear them,"

Even though the mod collecting was a little creepy, Eva just shrugged it off. She didn't move away from him, either; she stayed against his chest. She propped her cheek up on her fist and absently rubbed his chest with her other hand.

"Do you have another hand that you wear instead of the hook sometimes? Just curious—I like the hook." To prove it didn't irk her, she moved her hand down and wrapped her fingers around it.

"Mmhmmhm..." he chuckled softly. "Sometimes, but I like the hook. It can grapple onto things. Sometimes it's better than a hand." Lockdown paused, pressing his lips together for a moment. "You probably wouldn't like me if you knew what kind of work I really do. I guess it's my morals. They're pretty loose. I'll hunt just about anybody if I get upgrades and mods...or decent energon—money, pretty much."

"Y'know," Eva began, "I don't care what you do, honestly. I, um..." she trailed off and looked down.

She didn't like telling people what she used to do because it triggered the memories of how much it hurt Cecilija to know what she did, and what happened at the hotel. It also drove people away. Cecilija was the only one who hadn't left her. She was hesitant to tell Lockdown because she was scared he would leave her, too, but being a con artist couldn't be any worse than being a bounty hunter, could it? Lockdown leaned in so close their foreheads touched and she lifted her gaze to his face.

"I used to...con people and take their money," Eva admitted. "That's...how I ended up with this," she touched her throat, thumbing the studs on the collar buckled around her neck.

"Ah, swindlin'?" Lockdown smiled a little. "I know a bot named Swindle. Probably does the same thing you used to."

Lockdown reached behind her neck and worked the collar's buckle open, taking it off as he dipped his head down and kissed her throat, right over the scars. Eva tilted her head back and cupped his cheek lightly. It made her chest tight to know that he wouldn't run off when he wasn't chasing a bounty. She didn't know why she felt this way, especially so soon, and it scared her to death.

"It doesn't hurt so much anymore," she rasped quietly.

"If it hurts to talk," his breath was warm on her skin and his deep voice vibrated from his chest and from his mouth against her throat, "I can download this...sign stuff. I'd learn it in a few hours."

She smiled up at the concrete for a moment, stroking his cheek with her thumb. "You don't have to. I only learned it so people wouldn't think I was some obnoxious bitch for not responding to a question or participating in conversation. If you want to, though, I won't stop you."

"Whatever's easier for you," he said.

Eva smiled again and shrugged. "I like talking to you. The more I talk, the less it hurts. I was practically screaming earlier, though...and that might come back to bite me," she pouted and paused for a moment. "Oh well. It was worth it." She grinned.

"I 'heard' you...with my face," Lockdown laughed softly. Then he asked something that surprised her, and brought back unwanted memories from her childhood, "One thing kinda confuses me—your grandmother. A grandparent is usually the parent of a parent...so where are yours?"

Eva's expression turned bitter as she gazed past him, remembering. "In Slovakia." She hissed.

Lockdown seemed to bite his lip somewhat and glanced away. "Sounds like you don't have a very good relationship."

"No. We lived in a poor part of Bratislava and they couldn't afford to keep feeding me, so they got rid of me."

Lockdown's lips pulled into a deep frown. Eva remembered playing alone in the old, dilapidated playgrounds at the abandoned elementary school near the nicer parts of Bratislava and spending all day there sometimes, from sunrise to sunset, so she didn't have to listen to her parents fighting. They would constantly fight about money; when to pay the constable their property tax, when to buy food so they could eat, when to buy new clothes and shoes when what they wore started falling apart, when to pay the tiny school for her curriculum. More often than not, Eva's only meal came at lunchtime in the school cafeteria, and she usually went to bed hungry.

"_Mami, mám hlad,"_ she would often say, _"kdy můžeme jíst?"_ _Mom, I'm hungry. When can we eat?_

"_Omlouvám se, miláčku," _her mother would respond,_ "nemůžeme jíst večer. Možná zítra, pokud jste hodná holka."_ _I'm sorry, darling. We can't eat tonight. Maybe tomorrow, if you're a good girl._

"I was shuffled around orphanages," Eva continued, scooting closer to Lockdown, "then I was shipped off here to America when orphanages here asked for transfers of "international children". Then, I was juggled between foster homes. I spent all my time looking through family lineage listings, hoping I had family here. I hated the foster homes and rebelled whenever I could.

"I started making my own money by conning when I was eleven. I kept looking through the lineage listings and I found my grandmother when I was in junior high. I got myself out of the foster care system and she took me in. She's the only one who's ever cared for me...I owe her everything," Eva's voice broke and she looked down quickly to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.

Lockdown rubbed the tears away with his thumb as gently as he could when they fell. His hook caressed her side lightly as he rested his forearm on her hip.

"S'always the good ones that get the short stick in life. They suffer, they die, and jerks like me get around almost scott free," Lockdown murmured gently.

Eva looked up at him, her bottom lip quivering. "I'm far from a good person," she whispered.

He chuckled softly. "Same."

The rain pounded harder then, coming down in torrential sheets, and Lockdown looked out at it. A clap of thunder roared directly overhead and Eva jolted, thrusting herself into his arms and practically clinging, a startled cry wrenched from her throat. She wasn't normally scared of thunderstorms, but when she was outside during one, it was a totally different story. Lockdown curled over her, snagging the blanket with his hook and pulling it up around her shoulders.

"Thunder?" he asked.

"_Loud_ thunder. Scared the bajeezus out of me," Eva's cheeks flared hot in embarrassment.

"It feels like a wave, kinda."

There was a _huge_ crack of thunder so strong that even Lockdown jolted a bit from it, holding her closer. Eva screeched and clapped her hands over her ears, huddling close to him.

"Mm, storm's overhead," he almost purred.

Eva glanced out at the rain. "Jesus..!" she rasped.

Lockdown blinked. "Jesus?"

Wow, that sounded weird coming out of his mouth and Eva looked up at him. "A religious figure. Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Total crap in my book, but there are fleets of people who believe." She shrugged slightly. "If God exists, my parents wouldn't have thrown me out when I was only seven years old."

Eva's expression turned bitter again, but only for a moment. She hated remembering, and being with Lockdown made her feel so much better. So she didn't think about it. Lockdown laid down again and kind of hid his face.

"Sick as it sounds, I understand. The god supposedly watching over me is called Primus, and it's from him that all Sparks come and to him that all Sparks go. Well, if he's so perfect, why does he let flawed mechs suffer? Hmph." There was sharp bitterness in his voice and it broke slightly.

Eva cupped his face in her hands and made him look at her. "It's people. People hurt us and make us suffer. But if it's true that these gods exist, why _do_ they let us suffer?" she stroked his cheeks with her thumbs. "Well...it's up to people to heal us, then, too. I won't let you suffer."

She tugged him in for a kiss and his optics closed. Her own eyes fluttered closed and she kissed him tenderly, rubbing his cheeks with her palms lightly. He brushed their noses together when she pulled back.

"Free will, I guess," he said quietly. "I only had two people in my life that gave a damn, counting you."

"Who was the other?" she asked as she ran her thumb over his chin.

"His name was Yoketron, and he's the reason I can talk at all. He gave me the best life a bot could have, except for his nagging about Primus. I just didn't get why he'd preach to me about this loving god when all I saw was somebody who never listened. So I left, got ahold of my first mods and went into bounty hunting," he blinked once and licked his lips. "Slag, that was the worst night and the best discovery."

"Was he family?" Eva asked as she moved her hand down from his face to caress his throat.

"He was to me," Lockdown replied, his throat vibrating under her fingers. "He was like a...what do you call male—ah, like a dad."

"And he was the religious type," she thought out loud. "What happened to him after you left?"

"He was the most spiritual bot I knew," he whispered, becoming tense again. "And he—he died after I left. I saw him right before..." he trailed off. His voice was tight, as if it hurt just to speak.

Eva frowned and slid her arms around Lockdown, pressing herself close to his chest. He was trembling.

"My first bounty was for something he had. And to get it..." his voice broke slightly and he trailed off again. "Every other job's been easy compared to that," he said after a minute or two.

Eva held him tightly. "I understand... It's okay."

"Don't you see? I damned myself by killing him. He knew everything except for the answers I wanted. I told him Primus couldn't help me, and I left him there. He was yelling my name..." Lockdown covered his eyes with his hand, "...and I just left." His voice was full of pain.

Eva took his hand gently, pulling it away from his eyes. Tears were falling from his optics but he wasn't sobbing, and he looked ashamed of them. It hurt her inside to know he'd suffered alone with this for so long.

"Lockdown...from what you told me, it sounds like you didn't want to do it. Do you think he blames you? Or is he the kind of person to forgive someone for their mistakes?"

He shook his head when she asked if he thought Yoketron blamed him and she wiped his tears away gently, leaning in to kiss his cheeks.

"He doesn't blame you then...and you know it. Would it help if _I_ forgive you?"

Lockdown locked eyes with her for a split second, then lunged in and kissed her hard. Not too hard, but not gently, either. Eva squeaked softly and pressed into it, putting her hands on his helm where his holes were. He kissed her like he wanted to devour something and it almost hurt, then he pulled back. Lockdown's tears had stopped, but they had left oily, gold streaks behind on his face. Eva's lips throbbed slightly and her breath was coming quicker now, her heart pumping.

"I'll take that as a yes..?" she breathed.

"Yeah," he whispered, just as another clap of thunder rattled their little hiding place under the overpass.

Eva flinched slightly at the thunder but held Lockdown's gaze, stroking his head softly. He glanced away after a moment and his optics dimmed minutely. He still seemed ashamed of his own tears. Eva moved her hands down and wiped the oily streaks from his face, rubbing her thumbs under his eyes.

"It's okay to cry, Lockdown," she murmured. "I won't tell anybody."

"Bots like me aren't supposed to cry, Eva," Lockdown replied to her. His voice was a little rougher than before. "When I get like this, usually I go out and knock over a bounty. Mods always fix the pain."

She thumbed his bottom lip idly while a question formed in her mind and it came out before she could stop it, "Can't I help fix the pain?"

He fixed her in his crimson gaze, looking...almost confused. "How would you do that?" he seemed genuinely curious.

Eva hadn't the faintest idea why, but she felt a _need_ to soothe his pain and just...be there for him. And it scared her because these feelings were as alien to her as he was—in the sense that he came from a different planet. She'd never felt anything even remotely close to this for someone before, and feeling it now so strongly for someone who was still a virtual stranger...Eva thought she might lose what little sanity she had left.

"You can come to me when you...get like this," she said, heat swelling in her chest, "I can help you, I can make you feel better." This time she glanced away. "I can try."

Lockdown leaned in until their foreheads touched. "You can try," he agreed, his voice nearly a whisper.

Eva smiled gently at him, cupping his face in her hands as she kissed him softly. He was warm, his metal lips firm but soft at the same time, and he tasted vaguely of something tangy. She wondered if it was remnants of her natural lubricating fluid, or whatever he ate, or just how he tasted. Whatever it was, she liked it, and she really liked his metal skin. It was a good thing she didn't have any real friends, she mused absently as she memorized exactly how Lockdown felt when he kissed. They'd point their fingers and cry "Freak!" the moment they learned she'd done the 'deed' with a car. She was scared to show him to her grandmother, but she figured she might have to, sooner or later.

Eva pulled back gently and looked at him. A question was niggling at her, and from what she'd learned the night they went to the lake, it was a touchy subject for Lockdown. So she worded the question as carefully as she knew how.

"How often do you have nightmares?" she asked tentatively, watching his expression.

"A lot," he admitted slowly. "More than I'd admit to anybody besides you."

"I'll be here for you, Lockdown," she told him.

More than he'd admit to anybody besides her. He _trusted_ her. Heat swelled in her chest again and she rubbed his helm where it covered the holes. He smiled a bit at her and his demeanor changed instantly when another huge clap of thunder rattled the overpass, making him laugh. Eva jolted, clapping her hands over her ears.

"Wow!" she hissed.

Lockdown sat up and wrapped the blanket around her. "C'mere," he said as he stood up.

Eva sat up and watched him as he walked out—toward the rain! She stood up, bunching the blanket up in her arms and lifting it away from her feet so she wouldn't trip as she stepped off the mattress.

"We could get struck by lightning!" she called after him, hesitantly following.

Lockdown led her to edge of where it was dry, just under the overpass. She stood in front of him and he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her as he watched the sky. A bolt of forked lightning streaked down, flashing like a strobe, then vanished, leaving a faintly glowing trail of ions that the rain quickly took care of. Thunder roared above them milliseconds later.

"Forked lightning feels different than flashes. Do you feel it in your chest?" Lockdown asked her.

Eva leaned against him absently, watching the sky as well. "Yeah. Sort of...a clench?"

"Mm, s'like something's moving right through you." Lightning flashed again. "Wait for it," the corners of Lockdown's lips twitched upward.

Thunder roared again and Eva jumped, pressing closer to Lockdown. Even when she knew it was coming, the especially loud thunder never failed to make her jump. Lockdown led her to his vehicle self and the driver door swung open for her, the seat sliding forward. He helped her in, mindful of her bandaged side, then climbed in after her. The door swung closed and the seat stayed forward to make room for his legs. Eva found that highly amusing and settled back in the seat, leaning against the opposite wall of his cab and stretching her legs out across his lap with a sly grin. The rain beating down on his roof created a muffled roar in the cab and she glanced up at the ceiling briefly.

"Does that hurt?" she asked.

"Nope. Feels nice, actually. Try acid rain. Been in that before. Not fun," he replied, casually fondling her foot with his hand.

He examined her foot curiously, probing it with his fingers and lightly squeezing her toes between his thumb and index finger. Her feet must be bizarre to him, she thought, seeing as his own feet were metal and his toes were single, solid plates. Eva glanced down at his feet and noted that his toe plates were shaped like the right and left sides of the cowcatcher that was on his front end. Then his fingers caressed the sole of her very ticklish foot and she jerked, squirming a little and giggling. She wiggled her foot and curled her toes.

"That tickles!" she rasped.

Lockdown flashed a quick grin. "Mm, what about this?"

He rubbed his fingertips from her heel to her toes and down again and Eva laughed, kicking her leg slightly in a playful attempt to throw off his fingers. He looked at her with utter mischief in his eyes and picked up her foot, leaning over and tickling it with his tongue. That tickled more than his fingers because his tongue was soft and slick like vinyl, and Eva squealed, squirming around so much she ended up lying across his backseat. Her laugh was coarse and rough and almost a little wheezy, but it went unheard by him and she didn't care. Then he suckled on her toes and she squealed again, her voice cracking.

"Lockdown! Mercy!" she cried.

Lockdown kissed her foot and stopped playing with it. "Do all fleshies laugh when their feet are tickled, or are you just an exception?" he asked.

Eva relaxed, panting a little bit. "Most fleshy feet are ticklish," she told him.

"Only feet? What about..." and his hand charley horsed her leg.

"Aaah! No!" Eva squealed.

Eva's thighs and spots close to her butt were "sweet spots" when it came to tickling. She was extremely ticklish there and her grandmother would always manage to goose her there by surprise, especially if they were sitting on the couch together reading or watching TV.

Lockdown leaned over her halfway, his lips quirked in a crooked, teasing grin that only bared the teeth near the corner of his mouth, and his hand worked up toward her rear. Eva squirmed and twisted, laughing so hard her cheeks turned red and her eyes welled with tears.

"Have mercyyyy!" she cried again.

Lockdown did and stopped tickling her. She sprawled out and panted, vaguely aware that the bandage on her side was coming loose. Lockdown smirked at her and sat back, tapping his fingertips on her knee.

"Mechs are ticklish, too. Just not in all the same places," he said.

Eva lifted her head and looked at him, her eyes narrowing as she grinned devilishly. "Oh really..."

She sat up and practically vaulted into his lap, straddling his thighs. The blanket fell down toward her waist as she poked, prodded and tickled all over his chest and torso, looking for a ticklish spot. Her hands went down to his hips and he jerked when she tickled the spikes on his hips.

Bingo!

"Oooh! Gotcha!" she grinned.

Eva mercilessly tickled the spikes and he snickered then started to cackle. He leaned over a little, as if it would stop her, but she dipped her fingers into the wheel wells and he yelped, bucking slightly. His legs stiffened and he lifted his aft off the seat, tossing his head back and laughing.

"Ohh, found another one!" she laughed.

His laughter filled the interior of his cab and only the thunder drowned it out. His hand gripped her thigh and his hook pressed against the outside of her other thigh. This was making her hot again and she suddenly stopped tickling him, grabbing his shoulder spikes and devouring his mouth in a kiss full of tongue and teeth. He gasped, obviously surprised, and tilted his head to kiss her back. His tongue slid into her mouth and his hand rubbed down the length of her spine.


	6. Discoveries are made

Eva fondled his shoulder spikes, lightly biting his lips and tongue. He wasn't discouraging her..._abuse_...so she continued. In fact, his body was starting to get hotter, so he must have liked it. Every other guy Eva had been with didn't much like how rough she could get, or the bondage kinks she liked to use. She was a bit of a dominant lover. She also liked a lover who was dominant with her in return, and Lockdown seemed nervous about being rough with her, but Eva didn't push it. She was perfectly fine with playing the dominant role at the moment, and they both knew she couldn't hurt him, so she could be as rough as she liked.

The blanket was suddenly in the way and Eva grabbed it, fighting with it as she pulled on it, trying to take it off and push it out of the way. It was tangled around her legs and she growled, having to stand up on her knees in order to get it untangled, but the blanket wouldn't cooperate. She yanked and pulled and Lockdown looked highly amused, grinning as he held his hand and hook out of the way and watched. He only helped by using his hook to move part of the blanket away from her legs.

Finally, Eva got it unwrapped from around her legs and hips and shoved it out of the way, pressing her bare body against Lockdown's as she resumed kissing him. Her hands wandered all over his body, exploring the curves and angles of his armor. She was fascinated by the way heat followed her hands in waves and she loved how hot his mouth was inside. His tongue was almost as hot as the tea she brewed but she found the burning sting pleasant. Her hands wandered up to his neck and she brushed her fingers over spikes there, two on each side, and one above the other.

When Eva touched the top two spikes, Lockdown went rigid and his hand grabbed her right wrist, his hook snagging the left, and he roughly shoved her back.

"Don't touch those!" he shouted and growled, grabbing his head and holding it.

She gasped and almost tipped off his lap but instinctively clenching her thighs against his saved her. His reaction scared her and she held her hands against her chest. Her heart was thumping so hard against her sternum it felt like it was going to come bursting out. Lockdown's eyes were shut and his teeth were clenched, his breath coming hard. His body gradually relaxed and he slowly lowered his arms, opening his eyes to look at her. He studied her expression for the briefest of seconds and his lips twitched.

"It's okay," he said, "Just...not the top two spikes, kid. They're my oscillator sensors. Gotta keep 'em tuned high to pick up air vibrations."

"S-sorry," Eva stammered. "I didn't know."

Eva let out a slow breath and looked down, her shoulders sagging. She felt horribly guilty for hurting Lockdown and it sent stinging needles into her eyes. Tears? Why tears? _Maybe I'm still high on the morphine,_ she mused to herself ruefully as she tried to swallow them. His hand and hook touched her thighs above her knees and she looked at them.

"Hey. Don't worry about it. Better ya find out now than in the middle of getting plugged," he said softly.

Eva looked at him and he half-smiled at her, taking her by the shoulders gently and easing her close again. He wasn't mad? Eva was relieved but she felt stupid then for reacting with tears. She rested against his chest and nuzzled her face under his chin where she kissed his neck. Her hands went up to his head and she caressed and massaged his helm, hoping to soothe whatever pain was left. Then she caressed his helm where it covered the holes. She wondered if he had phantom pains, wanting to make them go away if he did.

Lockdown's breath was warm on her shoulder and he lifted his right arm, slipping it around her waist and brushing his hook down her spine. Thunder rumbled outside and she felt it, but she didn't really notice it. The metal of his hook was cool and goosebumps prickled along her skin, gentle shivers following it down her spine. He nudged her back gently and brought his hook around between them, playing with the tip of her left nipple. It elicited a quiet mewl from her and her nipple puckered as he toyed with it. She expected it to leave scratches, but it only tickled, and she liked it. A lot.

Lockdown watched her, clearly fascinated by her reactions and the way her body responded. His eyes shifted to look at her ear and he leaned forward, her earlobe becoming the next thing to be fondled by his mouth. Eva gasped and tilted her head toward his mouth. His tongue and teeth tugged on her earrings and she found the pinching of the posts on her skin so erotic, she was positive he could feel her getting hotter.

"Like that?" Lockdown whispered into her ear as he nipped and suckled on the lobe.

Eva gasped softly again, her fingers curling on his chest. "Ooh! Yeah," she breathed.

Lockdown tilted his head a bit and his tongue curled around the back of her crescent earring, tugging it off, then his lips closed around the front half and pulled it out of the lobe. _Then_, he put her earring _back on_ the same way—with just his tongue and lips. That made her even hotter and she scratched his chest lightly. He growled softly and moved to her other ear, his hook going down to her backside as his hand came up to her right breast, fondling it before his index finger and thumb lightly pinched and mercilessly toyed with her nipple.

Eva arched her back and hissed, biting her bottom lip. She moved her hands to Lockdown's shoulders and teased armor seams there, rubbing her fingertips over them and running her hands down to his upper arms, where she teased the seams there. His body was playground for her hands. His mouth released her ear and she tilted her head back. He'd started to mouth her ear again, but he moved down to her exposed throat and started kissing it.

His jack was resting against her stomach and she felt it get hotter as she explored his body and she moved one hand down, wrapping it around his jack. She teased and fondled it while her other hand continued exploring. His lips trembled against the scarred flesh of her neck and he moaned, pulling her harder against him. She tipped her head to the side and down, her own lips finding his head and trailing hot kisses along his helm.

"I really like it when you scratch me with your fingers," Lockdown said, his teeth brushing against her skin when he grinned.

He rubbed the blunt, flat side of his hook up her back and it tingled. Eva thought that's what it must feel like to him when she scratched him. She grinned and put her hands on his chest, lightly tapping an index finger before she curled her fingers and scraped her nails down his armor.

"Like that?" she purred.

"Unnh!"

He _growled_ and it sounded nothing like when she accidentally hurt him. It was a deep, guttural sound and it made her tingly all over. She wanted to hear that sound again and scratched up and down his chest. His mouth fell open and he growled again, his jack starting to crackle with static energy as he lurched forward and devoured her mouth in a vicious kiss. She gasped and their teeth clicked together lightly as she locked an arm around his neck, coherent enough to put it between his inner shoulder spike and bottom neck spike. She clawed his back a little as she raked the nails of her other hand right down the center of his chest.

Lockdown grunted and rolled his hips, insistently rubbing his jack against her stomach. Eva lifted herself up on her knees and moved her hand down from his chest, grabbing his jack as she rocked against him and lowered herself down over his jack. Her hand flew up and grabbed a shoulder spike as she pressed her cheek to his, her breath hot against his metal skin. She moaned as his jack slid inside her and she felt his jaw tense as he gritted his teeth.

"Ohhh, Eva..." Lockdown groaned, his breath hot against her throat.

Eva grabbed his head and tilted it back, biting his bottom lip before roughly kissing him and thrusting her tongue into his mouth. Lockdown was different than any guy she'd ever been with—better than all of them combined. His jack was so long that she couldn't take it all in, but it was so thick that she really didn't need to rub against his pelvis to stimulate her clitoris. She moaned into his mouth when he sucked on her tongue and she broke the kiss a moment later to breathe, her breath puffing hot against his lips.

"Mmmm, Eva..."

Wind blew the rain sideways against his windows and Lockdown's optics burned with the same intensity as the storm. Eva's thigh muscles trembled slightly as she rocked herself up and down, riding him as hard as she liked it. She pushed his head back again and leaned in, attacking his neck with her mouth and being careful to avoid the top two spikes. She clenched tight around his jack and—_oh,_ it hit all the right places inside. She moaned, mewled and whimpered, clinging to him.

Lockdown's hook and hand wandered over her back and he chanted her name in her ear, his voice a low, growling moan. Eva felt the tip of his hook leaving scratches and it stung in a good way, goosebumps prickling down her chest and stomach. She grabbed his head and arched her back, her own head falling back. Her breasts bounced gently as she moved and she felt Lockdown's breath puff hot against her chest just before he took one into his mouth. His hand cupped her lower back as growled against her nipple, rolling his hips and thrusting up to meet her downward movements.

"Ohhh, God—Lockdown!"

Eva's fingers curled on his helm and her mouth opened, a moan escaping from somewhere deep in her chest. She was close to another orgasm now and she moved harder and faster against Lockdown. His body tensed and his voice became strained, his fingers curling and scraping along her back. His jack was getting hotter and hotter and the static buzzing around it created a pleasant tingling burn that drove her over the edge. One of her hands flew up to the ceiling of his vehicle mode and she cried out her release, tensing and shuddering against him.

Eva could feel Lockdown's eyes on her and she felt him tense even more, a low growl vibrating from his chest as he reached his own orgasm. His arm shot out and his hand collided with the door window, smearing a clear spot in the fog on the glass created by their body heat. His head fell back, his lips twitched away from his teeth and he snarled her name just as a thunderclap vibrated the ground.

Eva collapsed against Lockdown's chest when her orgasm dwindled, panting against his neck. Sweat glistened on her skin and her hair was damp around her face and neck, and—that was better than that last one! Lockdown went limp, his arms dropping to his sides and Eva lifted her head, sitting back to look at him.

"Lockdown?"

His head was tipped to the side, his jaw slack and his optics dark. Oh, crap. Eva's insides clenched and she freaked out a little bit, shaking his shoulders, though he didn't even move.

"Lockdown...?!"

His hologram flickered a few times and re-solidified, then his optics lit up and he lifted his hand, rubbing the side of his head with a grin.

"Oh man..." he purred and looked at her, "you made me reboot."

Eva sat back, staring. "Is that a good thing?" was all she could think of to say.

Lockdown cocked his head. "Humans don't offline when too much energy hits their neural network at once?"

Eva blinked once. "If a human passes out after sex, it's cause for concern."

She shot him a mild glare, then ducked her head and grinned, putting her hands on his chest. She lifted her head enough that he could read her lips when she said, "Guess I did good, huh?"

Lockdown grinned back at her. "Oh yeah."

He rested his hand on her back and pulled her close, easing her down to lie against his chest. Eva settled against his chest and laid her head on his shoulder. Lockdown was warm and comfortable—despite being made of metal—and she felt...at home...with him. She didn't know when feeling this way would stop freaking her out. She'd only met him what—barely a week ago? Less? But she didn't have to hide around him. She could be herself. She closed her eyes and his cheek came to rest against her head.

"I should get you home," Lockdown said suddenly, lifting his head to look at her. "They didn't weld you shut?" he added a moment later.

Eva opened her eyes. "Hm?" _Weld me shut? I don't remember a cauterizing tool._

She noticed the sky was getting lighter and pouted. Cecilija would be upset that she'd been out all night on top of sneaking out of the hospital. Eva sat back a bit and looked down her side, noticing the bandage had come off. She spotted it on the edge of the seat next to his leg and saw blood and plasma soaked into it. She looked at her side again and made a face. Blood was caked around the sutures. She looked at Lockdown.

"No, they use nylon thread for stitches," Eva told him.

Lockdown frowned at the line of sutures, his hand and hook resting on her hips. He lifted his gaze to her face after a minute or two and smiled at her, his engine rumbling to life. He smoothly pulled away from the overpass where they'd been hiding and merged into the traffic on the road. Then Eva remembered her clothes, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Wait!" she hissed. "My clothes are on the mattress—and my bike key is in my jacket pocket!"

Lockdown hit the brakes and his arm slid around her waist to keep her from sliding out of his lap, but with his jack still inside her, Eva really doubted she'd go anywhere. Cars behind him screeched to a halt and the drivers blared their car horns.

"Mm," Lockdown smirked, "guess sex does drain human brains."

Lockdown laughed as he pulled an illegal U-turn, cutting off on-coming traffic to go back to the overpass. Eva slapped his chest lightly and snickered at his comment, not saying a word about his breaking of the traffic laws. She'd broken plenty of traffic laws herself. They reached the overpass in two minutes flat and he pinched her butt when he rolled to a stop. She squeaked indignantly, her cheeks flaring hot.

"Now, how are you going to go out there without any clothes on? Isn't nudity illegal on your planet?" Lockdown smirked.

"I'll wear the blanket," Eva said, grabbing the blanket off the seat. "But there are _some_ places that allow nudity. Like nudist beaches."

Eva pulled the blanket around herself like a cape and Lockdown chuckled, swinging his driver door open for her. He sat back and grinned at her. She pushed herself up on her knees and bit her lip as his jack slid out of her, then she exited his vehicle mode and scurried over to the mattress, gathering up her underwear, pants, boots and jacket. Her motorcycle key tumbled out of the pocket it was stashed in and she shot her hand out, snagging it in midair. She secured her clothes and boots in her arms and turned, scurrying back to Lockdown. Her feet splashed in the rainwater pooled on the ground and she ducked down, jumping back into his cab when she was close enough and straight into his lap. She landed on his stomach and he jerked, his hand going to her thigh.

"_Oof!"_ Lockdown grunted. "You're strong for a squishy." He smirked and his door swung shut, then they were merging into traffic again.

Eva shifted in his lap and rubbed his stomach. "Did I hurt you?"

"You're flesh, I'm metal. It'd take a lot more than that to hurt me."

Lockdown grinned cheekily at her, tickling her thigh lightly as he broke the speed limit merging onto the freeway. Drivers made way for him and Eva relaxed in his lap while he drove, grabbing his hand and pulling it away from her thigh. He knew her thighs were extremely ticklish now, and _she_ knew he would use it against her. He smirked and twisted his wrist in her grasp, playfully fighting with her to get at her thigh again. Eva grinned and held his wrist as tightly as she could, which probably felt like nothing to him, but he played along, fighting a tug-of-war with her.

Lockdown drifted into the next lane when a space opened up, then he kept going, jumping the remaining three lanes and cutting off an SUV in order to get to an approaching off-ramp. The driver laid on the horn and Eva squeezed Lockdown's wrist in her hand, extending her left arm and holding her hand close to the rear window, flipping the driver of the SUV off. Lockdown snickered at her and slowed down on the off-ramp, making a right onto an intersecting road. Then he made a sharp left and turned onto a side road. Eva noticed a few cops on motorcycles when she looked out the window.

"Guess we're takin' the long way back to your place. I don't need flashing lights on my tail," Lockdown said.

"Neither of us need to be arrested," Eva agreed, letting of his wrist and shifting off his lap to sit beside him.

She pulled the blanket off and used part of it to clean up between her legs, then she pushed it aside and pulled on her underwear, ignoring the stabbing pain in her side. She noticed Lockdown pick up the blanket, bringing it to his face. He watched her while she dressed, his optics smoldering again. The sutures pulled and pinched and she bit her tongue to keep quiet, not wanting him to think he'd made the injury worse. Eva put her bra on, then worked her pants on and buckled her belt after doing up the fly zipper and button on her jeans. She was pretty experienced with getting dressed—and _un_dressed—in the backseat of the car.

In the time it took her to get dressed, Lockdown had made it to her residential street. He slowed down and drifted toward the curb to park, rolling to a gentle stop. He shifted and turned to face her, pulling one leg up onto the seat slightly and laying his hand on her leg, lightly rubbing.

"Think you'll be okay?" he asked her.

Eva looked at him and smiled, pulling on her boots and zipping them. "I'll be okay," she replied. "Will you?" she pulled on her jacket and zipped it, leaving it open to about the center of her chest.

Lockdown nodded in response, then his optics went wide, his brows going up. "Your grand-ma is making her way—" he cut himself off and his hologram vanished just milliseconds before the front door to the house opened.

Eva blew out a breath, slouching slightly. Whew, that was close. _She's up early..._ Lockdown's driver seat discreetly moved back into place and his passenger seat moved forward for her. Eva scooted forward and grabbed the door lever, unlatching the door and pushing it open. Cecilija was standing on the porch, her expression halfway between anger and surprise. Eva climbed out of Lockdown's cab and looked up at Cecilija, then looked away when she leveled a glare at her.

Cecilija crossed her arms. "Where have you been, young lady? The hospital called me and told me what happened, and then they called again and said you disappeared. You have to _stop_ _doing that."_ She reprimanded sternly in her thick Eastern European accent.

"Sorry, Babička..." Eva said as she pushed Lockdown's door closed and walked over to her grandmother. "I'll pay my bill."

"I paid it already."

Guilt washed over Eva and her shoulders drooped as she hung her head. "I'll pay you back," she promised.

"Go inside and shower, then get to bed." Cecilija ordered.

Eva was quick to do her bidding and hurried inside, jumping through the doorway when Cecilija slapped her rear. She bolted upstairs and dashed down the hall to her room, dodging around the foot of her bed and stopping at her window, almost yanking the curtains back. Lockdown was still at the curb and she didn't hear the front door close, so Cecilija must still be on the porch. Then, just a moment later, the front door closed. Eva glanced back at her open bedroom door and let go of the curtains, quietly opening the deck door and slipping outside, tiptoeing carefully to the deck railing. Cecilija might've been old, but she could hear a spider fart on Main Street.

Lockdown started rolling forward after a few minutes and silently inched into the driveway, sneaking into the garage. Eva smiled and watched him, making sure he got in, then she turned and slipped back into her bedroom and closed the deck door. She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge, taking off her boots and stretching her legs out. Sex in the backseat of a car was incredibly fun, but it gave her gluteus muscles cramps.

Eva stood after a minute and took off her jacket, tossing it onto the bed, then crossed to her dresser and opened the top drawer, taking out clean underwear and pajamas. She tiptoed into her bathroom and took off her riding chaps, draping them over the toilet, then she took off her jeans and underwear. She lifted the door to the laundry chute, then stuffed her jeans and underwear down, closing the door before starting the shower.

†††

Eva had just stepped out of the shower when she heard a car alarm go off. Oh, shit. She grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her body, bolting from her room and dashing outside, dripping wet. She ran toward the garage and just before she reached it Cecilija exited, looking sheepish. Then her blue eyes went as wide as saucers and she shooed her back toward the house.

"Go back inside, Evangeline!" she ordered.

Eva dodged around her. "I will after I shut off that alarm."

Eva darted through the open door into the garage, pushing it closed behind her, then she moved over to Lockdown and laid a hand on his hood. The alarm stopped abruptly.

"Phew..." Lockdown sank on his suspension minutely.

"You okay, Lockdown?" Eva asked.

He chuckled softly. "I think she wanted a ride."

Eva smiled and leaned on his open passenger door. "She does like muscle cars."

Lockdown's door moved, almost gripping her, and pulled her closer until she tipped and dropped into his seat. The door closed gently when she pulled her legs in.

"I wouldn't mind givin' the old hag a ride. You'd have to drive to keep up appearances, though. And explain why you're driving and not your hot neighbor," Lockdown's voice rumbled from the speakers, clearly amused.

Eva snickered and stretched out in his seat, running her hand over the edge. "I let him use the garage, and he gave me a spare key in case I can't drive my motorcycle..."

His hologram formed in the backseat. "Then it's okay to share cars, too?" he leaned forward, resting his chin on the headrest above her head.

Eva tipped her head back and looked up at him, giving a smile. "In small neighborhoods like this, sure."

Lockdown smirked. "Good. I'd hate to cause a ruckus and give the old lady a heart attack."

"Nah, she's a tough old bat."

Eva used 'old bat' as a term of endearment, and it seemed Lockdown used 'old lady' and 'hag' in the same way. His voice was amused and didn't carry a mean or rude tone. He chuckled at her and reached down, grabbing her towel and pulling it off. She let him, though she put on a playful act of covering herself up with a gasp. He tossed the towel over his shoulder with a grin, then raised a brow at her.

"Hey, where'd your mods go?" he asked.

"I took them out before I got in the shower. They're irritating when they get shampoo and soap on them," she told him.

"Your mods hurt?"

"If they get really cold, or when they get soap on them. Otherwise, they don't hurt at all."

He examined her face quietly, then smirked. "I like you without clothes. S'cuter."

Eva grinned at him and stretched out, raising her arms over her head. Lockdown scooted out of the way and his seat laid back, then he climbed over into his driver seat and leaned over her.

"So, how long till your old lady chases you back inside to get dressed?" he was leaning so close they were almost nose-to-nose.

"Hmm," Eva pursed her lips for a moment. "I don't think she'll come back out here. You spooked her." She grinned.

"Good. I don't like to share."

Lockdown's eyes squinted the way they did when he joked, and then he kissed her without further preamble. Eva pressed into his kiss, moving one hand to the back of his head.

"Mmm..."

Eva had no idea when it started, but she'd stopped thinking of Lockdown as just a robot. Sure, he could transform into a beast of a muscle car and he towered over her in his true body—and even his hologram. But she felt safe with him. Safe and protected, and she'd never felt like that before with anyone. It was a different kind of safe and protected than Cecilija gave her, and Eva liked it. Lockdown's lips broke away from hers and moved to her forehead and cheek, kissing so lightly it tickled. His hologram felt chilly like the outside air, but his heater was on so he wasn't too cold to her.

"Wow, I flash you my jack and we're about to have sex for the third time. This a record for you?" Lockdown smirked.

Eva giggled softly as his lips tickled her skin. "Could be," she teased, wiggling her eyebrows with a grin.

His lips brushed over her ear. "Mm, c'mon, tell me; how many overloads have you had at once in a day? Doesn't matter how," he purred into her ear, grinning.

Eva shivered, tingles tickling her between her legs. _God_, she loved his voice right there. "I've had six or seven over the course of a day," she admitted, assuming an 'overload' was what his people's orgasms were called. "Played hooky from school and rented a hotel room with my boyfriend at the time. All we did was have sex, nap and eat."

"Where's this boyfriend now?" Lockdown pouted all melodramatically, but his eyes were playful.

"Long gone," Eva said. "Never saw him again after junior high. There's nobody but you now, Lockdown..."

She grinned at him, fondling his shoulder spikes. He purred softly and moved in to kiss her again, but his arm shot into the backseat and snagged the towel, covering her up suddenly. He must've sensed Cecilija in the house. Eva waited quietly, tickling her fingers down the armor seams on his chest and stomach.

"What would she do if she found out?" Lockdown asked cautiously.

"That I'm seeing an alien robot that can turn into a car? Um...I don't know what she'd do, actually," Eva pondered.

"Well, uh, first off I'd wonder what she'd say if she knew I'm more than a car. The relationship...um, that would be interesting, too." Lockdown snickered.

"She's seen the other robots around town. The Autobot ones. She has a few choice words about them, too," she quirked a half-smile. "I doubt she'd be _that_ surprised to find out you're not just a sexy car."

Lockdown's tongue swiped over her ear and he sucked on the lobe. He nibbled on it, tugging and pinching lightly with his teeth. He seemed to enjoy sucking on it the most and more tingles tickled Eva between her legs, making her squirm a little and shiver.

"Mmm," he released her ear. "And what does she say about them?" he laughed softly.

"She doesn't like them. She thinks they're annoying, no-good menaces. Also some old, old Slovak curses which are beyond me to translate..."

"Eh, they're annoying. But not all of 'em are bad. Heh, one of 'em is even flawed."

Eva blinked. "Really?"

Lockdown looked her in the eyes, suddenly serious. "You can't tell this to anybody. Flawed mechs...we kinda call ourselves brothers. Even the ones that don't get along. We don't turn each other in."

Eva held his gaze. "I won't tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me. Even the Autobot's."

Lockdown brushed his lips over her ear and grinned, his teeth touching the lobe.

"One of 'em's blind." He said.

Eva watched the ceiling. "Blind...that has to be hard," she mused quietly. "Not any harder than being deaf, I'm sure."

She placed her hands on his helm, rubbing it where it concealed the holes in his head. He lifted his head and swiped his hook over the top edge of his helm, popping it off and setting it aside. He leaned in close again and took her hands, placing them over the holes. He was quiet and thoughtful, caressing her forearm lightly with his fingertips.


	7. Music can be felt as well as heard

"There's something I can't understand," Lockdown began, "it's so simple to you..." he paused.

Eva looked at him. He dropped his voice to a near-whisper.

"Music. What is music?"

"Music," Eva repeated, idly caressing the edge of the holes. "It's..." she struggled for words to explain it, then an idea came to her. "Let me show you. You might not be able to hear it, but you can _feel_ it."

Lockdown nodded, letting her up. Eva sat up and let the towel slide off as she opened his passenger door and got out. She walked over to a metal tool chest where a stereo system sat, covered with an old, dirty towel. She pulled the towel off and set it aside, brushing her fingers over the top of the stereo. She glanced over her shoulder when the garage door closed and figured Lockdown did it. Only when the door was closed did he step out.

Eva opened the top chest drawer and sifted through the CD cases, choosing a mix CD with 'Dance' written on the case. She opened the case and turned the stereo on, opening the disc tray and placing the CD in it. She turned up the bass and treble, then pressed play and turned up the volume a bit. The treble made the speakers vibrate slightly when the first track on the CD began to play, a group of hand drums thumping out a beat. Lockdown laid his hand on one of the speakers and watched her. Clapping hands, snapping fingers and bead gourds joined the drums. Then the artist began singing. It was an old song by an Egyptian artist named Amr Diab. At the title word of the track, _Amarain_, sitars, bass and more drums joined.

Eva turned and slid away from the stereo, moving her body to the rhythm and beat of the drums. After the recovery from her throat surgery, Cecilija had urged Eva to take belly-dancing classes, thinking it would be a better outlet for her energy. She had taken to belly-dancing with enthusiasm and learned it quickly. She hoped dancing for Lockdown would let him know music.

Eva rolled and shook her hips, rolling and undulating her belly. She shimmied her shoulders and snaked her hands and arms...making her body seem like it was made of something fluid. Lockdown's hand fell off the speaker when she started dancing and he stared, his mouth dropping open. Eva snaked and arched her body, only using a small portion of the garage floor to dance. She didn't need much space when she used her entire body, swaying and shimmying. Then she stood in one place and arched backward, moving one arm over her head as she slid the other down her torso toward her belly button. Doing that made the stitches on her side pull and pinch, the pain a burning throb, but she ignored it. If she raised her other arm and bent back just a little more, she could put her hands on the floor.

Eva saw sparks jump from Lockdown's exposed jack and he hastily covered it, looking embarrassed. She slowly rose upright and raised both arms, flashing him a smile as she turned toward him, shaking her hips. She lowered her arms and moved her hips in a figure-eight pattern, snaking her hands in time to her hips, then she started leaning back again. She undulated her hips and torso in a serpentine manner, back and forth, as she slowly lowered to her knees and snaked her hands and wrists as she went. She gave him a coy smirk. Knowing she excited him made her tingly all over.

She rose back up and moved her hips and shoulders from side to side, like a snake slithering through the grass, then turned and undulated her body again. She turned away from him and raised her arms, shaking her hips in a way that would make anything wrapped around them—like a coin belt—sway and bounce and jingle. As the music faded, she turned side-on to Lockdown and lowered one arm, keeping the other raised and bending both at the elbow. He stared at her, his expression one of surprise and a bit of amazement.

Eva lowered her arms and smiled at him, heat flooding her cheeks as she blushed. "Music is feeling...not so much listening," she said.

Lockdown stood straight and looked down at her. "Can two people move to music? Like...together?"

His question was so innocent and it made her giggle inwardly. "Mhm. Dance with me?" she held out her hands.

Lockdown held his hook out, copying her. Eva grabbed it and pulled him close, reaching over to the stereo and pushing the right double-arrow button. The track changed to another old song by an artist named Rihanna. It started with Rihanna's voice opening by singing, "Please don't stop the music," then digital bass, keyboard and clapping followed. It was fast and upbeat. With the stereo's bass and treble turned up, she could feel it, too.

"Feel the beat and let it move you," Eva told Lockdown, letting her body move how it wanted to the song's rhythm.

Apparently, Lockdown's idea of moving was to push her against the wall and grin as he kissed her. His foot was tapping a bit to the bass beat and Eva scraped down his chest with her nails, kissing him back and nipping at his lips. A purr rumbled from his chest and he started taping his other foot while he deepened the kiss. Eva swayed her hips and shoulders to the beat, tapping her fingers over his chest before scratching him again and sliding her arms around his waist. He rumbled a growl in the back of his throat and started moving his hips, following her rhythm. His movements were graceful but kind of stiff, so she grabbed his hips and moved them with hers, grinning into the kiss.

Lockdown laughed softly and kept following her lead, except his jack kept poking and rubbing her belly button. It was like he was chasing it! Eva snickered and giggled, moving one hand to his jack and teasing it. It buzzed slightly.

"Mmmh, girl like you...why aren't you leading a harem of males from your own species?" he purred.

"Not every guy thinks I'm hot stuff," she replied, thumbing the end of his jack. "Some guys think I'm perfect, others think I'm too promiscuous, and others think I'm too dangerous."

"But danger makes like f-fun," he stuttered as she fondled his jack.

Lockdown brazenly squeezed her backside in his hand as the movement of his hips spread up to his shoulders. Eva gasped softly when he squeezed her rear, wrapping her hand around his jack and stroking it in retaliation. He'd probably be great in a nightclub, she thought, where the music was so loud you couldn't hear yourself think.

His jack got noticeably hotter in her grasp and he cracked a teasing grin at her, then his hand grasped her under her arm and his hook pressed into her other underarm and he lifted her, firmly throwing her over the hood of his vehicle self. She thumped across the cool metal and grunted, pain stabbing deep into her side, and she was absently surprised that she didn't bend his hood under her weight. But then, Lockdown wasn't an ordinary car. She parted her legs and he stood between them. She grabbed his jack again and he thrust his hips, grinding against her hand.

"I'll show you a dance I know," he growled, then bent at the waist and fondled her breasts with his mouth one at a time.

Eva moaned softly and squirmed under him, rubbing her calves against his outer thighs. She squeezed his jack and stroked it harder, her other hand going up to his head.

"Ooohh,"

Lockdown's mouth released her breast and he smirked. "You like it rough, don'tcha?" then he took her breast into his mouth again and sucked harder, his teeth grazing her skin.

"Yeah—ohh..." Eva moaned.

Lockdown sucked hard enough that it hurt a little and Eva tilted her head back, biting her lip. The blunt side of his hook wandered along her skin and she could feel him trembling as she fondled his jack. The end of his hook snagged one of the sutures and she tensed. Lockdown realized his hook was tugging on a stitch and quickly lifted it away, then Eva moved her hand down from his head to his lower back, clawing him a little. He growled and to anyone else it would have been threatening, but to Eva it meant Lockdown was aroused. And judging by how loudly he was growling—and the show his jack put on while she was dancing—he was intensely aroused.

Lockdown straightened and put his hand and hook on her knees, spreading her legs wider. He leaned back and grinned at her, the ridges above his eyes moving as if he was waggling eyebrows at her.

"Ready to get plugged?" he purred, slowly licking his lips.

Eva smirked at him. "Bring it."

He lined up his jack with her entrance and thrust inside. At this angle he slid in deep and the ridges on his jack scraped over her G-spot, making her jump and cry out, her hands flying up to her face.

"Unnh..!"

She hooked her legs around his hips and rolled her hips toward him. His jack hitting her G-spot felt _so much better_ than self-serving with a toy. His hand and hook slid down her thighs and she clenched her body around his jack, making him grunt softly and hiss.

"Did I find a sweet spot?" Lockdown asked, rolling his hips a little.

Eva nearly bucked off his hood. "Yes!" she cried, grabbing at his wrists. "Ohh, God...you found my G-spot," she moaned.

"Hmmm...this?"

He thrust his hips and the ridges and rough tip of his jack scraped over her G-spot, almost making her go cross-eyed. She wondered if it was the ridges or the temperature of his jack, but it was driving her _crazy!_ Her stash of sex toys and her own fingers never made her feel like this! Her back arched up off his hood, the sutures pulling sharply and lancing pain into her side, but she ignored it. She'd grown adept at ignoring pain and working through it, because she hated upsetting Cecilija. This pain even heightened her mood a little.

"Yes! Oh!" she cried again, practically clinging to him. "Don't stop!"

Lockdown's hand grasped her hip and lifted her slightly, thrusting his hips and driving into her as hard as she could stand it. This angle was even better and his jack scraped over her G-spot with every thrust, and Eva desperately hoped Cecilija couldn't hear her shouting or squealing. Lockdown's lips pulled away from his teeth as he thrust into her, his fingers curling on her hip. Eva begged for more, grabbing his arms above his elbows to pull him closer.

She clenched around his jack, her chest, neck and face flushing red. _This_ was the best sex with him yet! Lockdown started breathing harder and his hook slid along her thigh, leaving a faint scratch. Eva felt herself quickly approaching an orgasm and she was positive she wouldn't last much longer with Lockdown repeatedly hitting that spot. She could feel his vehicle self rocking on his wheels, in time to his thrusting. It must have been as intense for him as it was for her and she clutched desperately at his arms.

When she hit her orgasm, it hit _hard_ and she wailed, tensing up and shaking. She moaned and shouted so loud her voice cracked and rasped and the stitches chewed on her side with a vengeance. At the height of her orgasm, Eva felt something gush from inside her and all over Lockdown's jack. He tensed and gave a sharp snarl, doubling forward and collapsing on top of her. She threw her arms around him and he shook, his thrusts were stiff and shallow, and his moans were directly in her ear, somewhat monotone in pitch. She clutched tightly to him, moaning into the hole where his ear should have been.

Eva's orgasm finally dwindled and she shuddered as she relaxed beneath him, panting hard.

"Ohhh...wow..." she rasped, her voice worn out.

Lockdown panted into her ear and raises his head, lifting himself up on his elbows. "You gushed on me," he said with a small laugh and kissed her.

Eva kissed him back and smiled into it. He was shaking a little and didn't stand yet. She watched his face and his optics dimmed and flickered, his body sagging toward hers slowly. She tightened her arms around him and asked, "Gonna pass out again?"

Her answer came when Lockdown collapsed on top of her again, his head hitting his own hood with a metallic thump. Eva grunted and struggled to take in a deep breath. He was heavy! Her side throbbed angrily and she furrowed her eyebrows, doing her best to keep Lockdown from sliding to the garage floor. But, she made him pass out again!

"Oh, I'm good," she murmured to herself.

A soft beep sounded a minute or two later and Lockdown shifted, lifting his head and picking himself up. He whistled.

"Oh, you're _good,"_ he purred.

Eva smirked at him, feeling decidedly smug. Lockdown cackled softly and leaned down to kiss her again. She kissed him back, then he moved back and slowly pulled out of her, taking a step back and looking down at his jack. He cocked a brow ridge.

"Won't you dehydrate?"

Eva lifted her head and looked down at his jack as well. It was coated in her fluid and shiny. She quirked an eyebrow.

"I think that is the mythical female ejaculation I've read about," she mused.

"It can't be such a myth if it's staring you in the face," Lockdown smirked.

"True," Eva snickered softly. "You made me cum." She grinned.

Lockdown chuckled softly and slowly straightened up, his head turning in the direction of the house. Eva sat up and rubbed his chest softly, smiling at him. It was a genuine smile. She didn't have to convince her facial muscles to fake one around him—they came forth on their own. He looked at her and tapped her chin lightly with one finger, then reached into his passenger seat and picked up the towel.

"You should go back in before your grandma gets nosy," he said, though there was reluctance in his voice.

Eva's smile dropped into a pout and her shoulders drooped. "If she goes out today, come inside."

Lockdown smiled and nodded. Eva scooted off his hood and onto her feet.

"If I'm sleeping, just crawl into bed with me," she smiled at him again.

"Bed? That's a—oh yeah, human berths," he rubbed the back of his head and grinned cheekily at her. "Sure, I'll do that."

"It'll be nice to wake up to you," she said as she took the towel and wrapped it around her torso.

"Me too," he murmured under his breath as his hologram disappeared.

Eva turned the stereo off and covered it, then reluctantly left him, walking back inside and flipping the bird to someone that catcalled at her. She slipped into the house and snuck upstairs to her bedroom. Just when she thought she'd evaded her grandmother, she heard her voice come from the bathroom in the hallway.

"You sure spent a lot of time in there with that car."

Eva paused, searching for an excuse, but Cecilija spoke again.

"You'd better have breakfast before you sleep, anděl."

"I will, Babička."

"Good girl."

Eva went straight to her bathroom when she entered her room, dropping the towel and getting into the shower again. This time she ran the water cold and nearly squealed at the icy temperature. She was still hot from this latest romp with Lockdown and needed to cool down. The cold water wasn't helping, so she lay down on the floor of the shower and opened her legs, fingering herself into another orgasm.

She felt better afterward and relaxed on the floor, letting her breathing and racing heart calm before she sat up. She sat under the spray of cold water for a few minutes, then stood and turned it off. She opened the door and stepped out, grabbing a dry towel and bending at the waist to dry her hair first. She dried her body then went out into her bedroom, taking out a clean pair of underwear and pajamas.

She put a fresh bandage on her side, then went downstairs after dressing and had a bowl of cereal in milk, her thoughts on Lockdown. She wondered if she was so drawn to him because they had similar pasts, or if it was just lust. But she'd felt lust before and this was different. Lust didn't come with feelings that made her chest seem too small for her heart. She wondered for the hundredth time why she felt this way, and when it would stop scaring her.

Eva stood and washed out her cereal bowl when she finished eating, then went back upstairs to her room and brushed her teeth before crawling into bed. Four orgasms—one of them _intense_—in one morning had worn her out. She pulled up the blankets and rolled onto her right side, settling down into her pillow and falling asleep quickly.

†††

"Go in the bathroom while I get some stuff ready," Eva said with a shy smile. "I want it to be surprise."

The man smirked at her. "Sure, baby doll."

He was a handsome man in his late thirties with sable hair and eyes to match. He played with a lock of Eva's long, wavy hair before he went into the bathroom and closed the door. His erection was very obvious under his boxers. Eva sprang into action the moment the door closed. She threw her sundress back on and slipped her shoes on, then grabbed the man's discarded clothes and rifled through the pockets, searching for his wallet. She didn't immediately find it and looked faster, glancing at the bathroom door for a second.

"Where is it?" she hissed quietly.

Eva pushed his pants aside and grabbed his blazer next, shoving her hands into the pockets. One of the inside pockets was particularly heavy and she grabbed the button holding it closed, tearing it off and dropping it. As she reached in to take the wallet, the bathroom door opened. _Shit!_

"What's taking so lon—" the man stopped short, then exploded in rage, charging the tiny fifteen-year-old girl. "You little bitch!"

Eva yanked the wallet free and ran for the door, crying out when a fist snagged her hair, yanking her back and throwing her onto the bed. She hit the edge and bounced off, dropping to the floor. The man descended upon her, grabbing a fistful of her hair again and yanking her up. Eva's scalp screamed and she thrust her hands out, clawing his face. He yelped and jerked back, releasing her hair. She kicked him back and grabbed the wallet she'd dropped, scrambling up onto the bed and diving across it.

Something clicked and the man's fist grabbed her hair again, yanking her off the bed. The wallet fell onto the quilt and Eva managed to land on her feet and keep her footing, screaming in terror when she saw a knife coming for her. She clawed the man's arm, jerking her head back when he let go.

Pain turned her vision white and she tried to scream, but no sound came out of her mouth. She choked and gagged, lurching forward and doubling over as she vomited blood onto the floor.

"Oh, fuck! Oh my God!" the man panicked and grabbed his clothes.

He ran to the door and threw it open, leaving Eva in the hotel room. Her hands flew up to her neck and encountered something made of metal jutting out. Her fingers came away covered in blood and she had to vomit again, bending double. Eva grabbed the wallet off the bed and then grabbed a pillow, yanking the pillowcase off of it. She choked, coughing out more blood, and she started to panic. She tore the pillowcase at the seam.

"_Eva."_

The voice was familiar but Eva paid no heed to it. She needed to get to the hospital! She tore the pillowcase again, wrapping it around her throat and the handle of the knife with bloody hands. It hurt so bad she couldn't see straight.

"_Eva!"_

Suddenly Eva was shaken awake and she gasped sharply, her hands flying up to her throat as she gave a hoarse cry. A hand and something cold grabbed her shoulders and she panicked, twisting away and throwing her hands out to protect herself.

"No!" she cried weakly.

"Hey, it's me," the familiar, deep voice said again. The hand on her shoulder moved to her back. "You're dreamin', kid."

Pain lanced through Eva's side and forced her mind fully awake. She winced and dropped onto one elbow, her other hand going to her side and pressing on the bandage she'd dressed the wound with before going to bed. She looked around her room, a little disoriented, then saw Lockdown.

"Lockdown," she breathed.

"Naw, it's the boogey man," he joked lightly.

Eva noticed it was uncomfortably damp between her legs and she sat up, swinging her legs off the edge of the bed. She hadn't had that nightmare in quite a while and tears welled up in her eyes, her breath hitching. Lockdown sat down on the bed next to her and his weight made the mattress sag a _lot_, the springs creaking quietly. He put his right arm around her and she leaned against him, looping her arm around his waist.

"Wanna, um..." he paused awkwardly, "talk about it?"

"Just a nightmare," she whispered. "Haven't had that one in a long time."

Eva rubbed her throat gingerly, phantom pains throbbing deeply in the scars. She wondered if all her yelling and moaning earlier brought on the dream, but she'd had this dream many times before and her throat always hurt this bad when she woke.

"Mm, lemme guess—remembering how you got the scars, and it's like feeling it fresh as the day you got it?" Lockdown asked, as if he _knew._

Eva nodded and covered her eyes with her hand when the tears came. She stubbornly tried to hold them back, but they weren't having any of it. They fell down her cheeks and quiet sobs wracked her small frame. Lockdown scooted a little closer and put his other arm around her. She cried against his side, pressing her hand to her throat in a futile attempt to ease the pain. His arms tightened around her, then he lifted her and eased her into his lap. She pulled her knees up and curled up in his lap, crying for a good fifteen minutes before she finally quieted down. She noticed his chin was resting on top of her head and smiled inwardly. She mused that she fit perfectly right there are she nuzzled closer, then she felt a cramp in her lower abdomen and cringed. Fitting that her period would come and ruin everything.

Lockdown's head tipped down to look at her. "Should I take you back to the hospital?"

Eva wondered why he asked such a question, then figured he could smell the blood. "No," she shook her head and sat back to look at him. "It's my period...nothing to worry about."

He blinked. "Periods are punctuation marks in your writing...aren't they?"

"Um...menstrual period," she told him.

It got uncomfortably warm where she sat and Lockdown raised a brow ridge. Eva shifted and scooted out of his lap, her cheeks flaring hot.

"I'll be right back," she said.

Eva got a clean pair of underwear along with a clean pair of pajama pants from her dresser and darted into her bathroom. She threw off her soiled pants and underwear, then opened the toilet lid and sat, pulling the clean pair of underwear up to her knees and draping the clean pair of pants over her leg. She opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled out a pack of maxi pads, yanking one out and unfolding the wrapping. She pulled the pad off the sticky strip and started securing it to her underwear when Lockdown stepped in. She blushed so bright her face felt like it ignited into flames and she grabbed a bath towel, unfolding it and hiding underneath it.

"Um, should I wait outside?" Lockdown asked.

Eva peeked out at him and nodded. "Please."

Lockdown fidgeted and turned to duck out, bumping his head on the top of the doorway. He cursed softly and disappeared into her room. Eva finished securing the pad, relieved herself and cleaned up, then pulled on the pajama pants after standing and pulling her underwear up. She adjusted the pad and scowled, then smoothed the front and back of her pants and washed her hands. She dried her hands, then grabbed her soiled clothes and stuffed them down the laundry chute, planning to do a load of laundry later as she walked out to her bedroom and turned off the bathroom light.

Lockdown was waiting next to her bed and he looked at her when she came out. The cramps were already starting to intensify and she really wanted some aspirin.

"Are you sure this...period thing...is supposed to hurt?" he asked her, his eyes going to her bandaged side. His eyes moved to her face again and he looked worried. "Did I cause it, Eva?"

"My period? No, it happens every month, and the cramps always kick my ass," she replied, her mouth tightening when another cramp hit.

His brow ridges went up and he looked shocked, even a little grossed out. "You won't bleed to death?"

His reaction was so typically human Eva had to laugh when she shook her head. "I won't bleed to death, I promise."

Lockdown looked relieved and sat down on the bed, then scooted back further and lay back, folding his hand behind his head. He looked at her and smirked.

"So um...what all do humans do in their bedrooms besides sleep? Enlighten me."

Eva walked over and crawled onto the bed, swinging one leg over him and straddling his hips. She seated herself on his pelvis and grinned at him a bit.

"Some have TVs and computers, but sex is what we do in bedrooms 'sides sleep," she said.

Lockdown moved his hand down from behind his head and laid it and his hook on her thighs, rubbing up and down casually. He didn't seem fazed at all by her weight.

"Oh? Is it safe while you're bleeding?" Lockdown asked, glancing down at her belly.

Eva snickered. His worrying about her period was so funny! "It's perfectly safe, but it'll be messy," she purred at him.

Despite the cramps, talking about sex and remembering yesterday was arousing her. Eva moved her hands up to his chest and scratched up and down with her nails.

"Can't be messier than the regular lube you—ooh! Produce anyway," he mused, grunting softly when she scratched him.

Lockdown grinned at her and answered her scratching by running his hook along her stomach gently. Eva grinned and wiggled on him, trying to tease him, then scratched his chest again, harder. Her nails caught a seam on his chest and the armor split, exposing something silver hidden beneath. Lockdown arched up toward her hands with a soft moan, seeming oblivious that his chest armor had opened. Eva moved her hands away.

"Lockdown,"

"Mmmmh?" he followed her gaze to his chest. "Oh, don't worry 'bout that, Eva. You're not hurting me."


	8. A soul is bared

Lockdown lifted his hand and petted her messy hair to try and smooth it, but bed-head was stubborn. Especially when wet hair dried that way. Eva slid her hand forward and hesitantly touched the exposed silver, giving it a feather-light caress. Lockdown's optics went wide and he pressed his head back into her pillow.

"Ooooh, wow!" he groaned.

Eva snapped her hand back, thinking she'd hurt him. "Lockdown?"

Lockdown shivered slightly and panted softly. "Phew...do that again, Eva..."

Eva's arousal rose quickly when she realized she'd caused him pleasure and she bit her lip. "Mm," she caressed the silver again. "Like that?"

Lockdown let out a soft moan and rose up, his mouth colliding with her neck and gently kissing as hot air rushed from his intakes. Eva cupped the back of his head with one hand, continuing to stroke and tickle the silver in his chest. His lips trembled and his breath was hot against her skin, making goosebumps prickle down her back. His moans were soft and quiet, and the way he trembled made it seem like she'd made him suddenly fragile in her arms. He lifted his head and kissed her hard, his hand tightening into a fist against her lower back. She kissed him back, pushing her tongue into his mouth. She realized she _loved_ turning him to putty, but she wondered what made that spot so damn sensitive as she teased and stroked it.

Lockdown broke the kiss and panted against her lips. "Mmmmh, Eva," he moaned softly, his voice rasping with need.

His hand moved from her back and his fingers pulled the waist of her pants and underwear forward. His hand slid into the clothing and Eva lifted herself on her knees slightly, gasping softly when his fingers touched the hottest part of her, rubbing and teasing. She shuddered and pressed down against his fingers, touching and caressing the silver in his chest agonizingly slowly.

"Ahh, Lockdown..."

"Mmmmh..."

Lockdown slowed his fingers and matched her movements, showing her what it felt like to him. She moaned softly and leaned down to kiss him, grinding against his fingers and picking up the movements of her fingers as static tickled and licked them. His fingers sped up as well and pressed harder. She rolled her hips and tilted her head back, grabbing his wrist with her other hand. Her face contorted into a pleasured grimace and her lips twitched away from her teeth, but she was too focused on the roiling conflagration building in the center of her being.

"Uunnnhh, Lock_down_..." Eva growled his name, though he couldn't hear it.

Her orgasm came quick with the attention focused on her clitoris, and her ministrations to the silver in his chest paused while she rode her orgasm, grinding hard against his fingers. His hook held her hand still on his chest and he watched her with arousal and fascination. She drew it out for as long as she could take it, then slowed and stopped, slumping forward over his stomach and panting.

"Oohhh..." she moaned softly, noticing that her cramps had died down, but her side was starting to get angry.

Lockdown laid back with her on his chest, his arms wrapped around her. Eva tipped her head back and nibbled his neck, resuming the teasing of the silver in his chest. He made a few of those awkward, strangled moans he'd made when they were together under the overpass and his hand slid out of her pants to grip the edge of the bed. He smeared her menstrual blood on the sheets, but she didn't care. She'd wash them later.

"Mmh... Oh, that feels..." he trailed off, his lips twitching away from his teeth.

"Tell me," Eva breathed against his chin.

She dipped her head down and lifted her hand away, curling her fingers into a loose fist as she brushed her lips over that sensitive silver in his chest. He gasped and _growled,_ his hand grabbing her rear.

"Ohhh, I'm gonna..." Lockdown trailed off again, gasping for breath.

Eva ghosted feather-light kisses and brushed her fingertips over the extraordinary stretch of silver, relishing in what she could do to him. Lockdown's head jerked to the side and he grunted, his entire body tensing and shuddering. She felt static prickle over her face and she saw white light shine through a seam in the silver that was invisible to her before. She sat back to watch his overload, licking her lips as the static tickled them. She wondered what the light was, but she'd ask him when he regained his wits.

Lockdown shook, gasped and groaned for a second or two longer than he did during his overloads yesterday, and when it was over it took him longer to recover. Eva withdrew her hand and watched him as he draped his arm over his eyes, his lips parted as he panted.

"Mmm, wow," he purred, moving his arm down from his eyes to smile at her. "You're good!"

Eva smiled back, her ego sent through the roof. "What's in there that's so sensitive?" she finally asked.

"My Spark," he answered.

"What's a Spark?"

Lockdown pushed her to sit up and the silver in his chest split at the seam, revealing a glowing, pulsing white sphere to her. It looked like a miniature star and it...it was gorgeous!

"S'my life," he said softly. "I die when it goes out. Guess humans have something similar, but you call 'em souls."

Butterflies fluttered in Eva's stomach and she gazed at his Spark like it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen—and it was, really. It was like being told that something of fantasy, like dragons or unicorns, actually _did_ exist and she'd seen one to prove it. The throbbing in her side dulled and she bit her lip, swallowing a wave of tears. She hated her period—it made her so emotional.

"It's...beautiful," she whispered. She moved her hand up to touch it, but she stopped, her fingers hovering just a few inches away.

"You can touch it," Lockdown said. "Just don't poke too hard."

Eva hesitated, then touched it carefully. Lockdown stiffened slightly the same way he did when she touched the silver doors and his optics dimmed to crimson, deep moans escaping his throat. Static and heat rushed over her fingers and she rubbed the glowing orb softly, then leaned in and tasted it. It was warm and zapped her tongue a bit, and Lockdown arched off the bed, his fingers gripping the bed sheets so hard they almost tore. Eva drew back and licked her lips.

"Like licking a battery," she mused, then dipped her head down and licked his Spark again.

Lockdown laughed at her battery comment, then moaned. "Eva...that feels like—aahhhh..."

Eva was getting aroused all over again and scraped her fingernails down his sides, licking and kissing his warm, pulsing Spark. Lockdown's arms wrapped around her shoulders and pressed her closer, encouraging. She shivered and rolled her hips a little, her fingers curling on his armor. He panted hard, gasping every few seconds. She slid up and kissed him deeply, her heart thumping directly against his exposed Spark. He kissed back hard, his engine started to rev and he trembled the way he did when he got close to an overload.

Eva got a thrill from the vibration of his revving engine, as well as the throaty roar, and shuddered slightly, rubbing against him and squirming a little. She fondled his shoulder spikes and explored his mouth with her tongue. It was hot, smooth and slick, but not really wet, though it felt like it could be. Lockdown clutched her to him and leaned up to kiss her harder. She moaned low in her chest and moved her hands up to his helm. If he had hair she'd be pulling it, but he didn't so she held onto the sides of his head and thumbed the edges of his helm. His arms tightened around her and he broke the kiss, tossing his head back into the pillow and gasping for breath. His optics closed, his jaw clenched and his Spark swelled. Eva could feel the warmth in her chest, feel it pulsing against her skin.

Lockdown held her so tight he squeezed the breath from her lungs and she grunted softly, panting shallowly against his neck. Eva suddenly felt some kind of...feedback...from Lockdown; she felt waves of ecstasy and vague confusion, followed by brief images of an eyeless, gunmetal grey face framed in a black helm with a gold chevron adorning his forehead. Pain and jealousy followed the images of the strange mech, then they were quickly buried and she wondered how on Earth she was seeing these things, but a sensation bubbled up that stole all coherent thought from her mind. Lockdown arched up off the bed and his fist gathered up part of her shirt, his body trembling so hard he shook the bed. His low, growling moans reverberated off the walls and Eva was very glad Cecilija had gone out to volunteer at the local soup kitchen.

As quickly as the images and sensations came, they were gone and Lockdown relaxed, panting furiously. He relaxed completely and his arms slid off of her, dropping onto the bed, and Eva kissed his lips until he came back online. Lockdown sighed as he came back online, his optics lighting up then focusing on her. Eva smiled at him and kissed him gently. He purred softly and smiled into their kiss, then she got up and led him downstairs to the kitchen by his hand. He bumped his head on her bedroom doorway and a light fixture in the hall and glared at her when she snickered.

Lockdown knocked his head again on the kitchen doorway and cursed, and Eva kissed his head when he sat at the table. He huffed softly, crossing his arms, and she snickered again. He mumbled something about tiny houses and low doorways and she kissed his head until it got warm under her lips. His hand came up and rubbed her stomach.

"Stop that," he said softly, tilting his head back and quirking a grin at her.

She looked at him and grinned a little. "But I like kissing you."

"Hmm..."

Lockdown snagged her shirt in his fist and pulled her down. Eva kissed him and giggled softly. She really did love kissing him. His lips were soft despite being made of metal and he tasted wonderful. Tangy like steel and sweet and bitter like something else. Eva pulled back after a moment and nipped at his bottom lip with a cheeky grin, then made herself some late lunch. While she ate, she played footsy under the table with him and he smirked at her. She didn't know if he was trying to be funny, or if he was hungry, but he twisted in his seat and opened a cabinet, rifled around, then took out a bottle of Pine-Sol cleanser and drank from it. Whether Lockdown _was_ trying to be funny or not, Eva laughed and he chuckled at her reaction.

After lunch, Eva washed her dishes and put them in the dish drainer. She was lucky it was her day off today, or she would have been a no-call, no-show at the pub and her boss would have been upset. She took some Aspirin to quell the menstrual cramps before they flared up again and walked by the table to leave the kitchen, but Lockdown grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap. She wiggled her hips to try and tease him, then leaned back against his chest and smiled. He rested his chin on top of her head and put both arms around her, his fingertips absently rubbing her arm. An orange light blinking on his arm and a series of beeps ruined the moment and she sagged.

"Ah...sorry kid, gotta get that," Lockdown said softly.

Eva nodded and sat forward, scooting out of his lap. She knew he couldn't sit around doing nothing with her forever, but his job was dangerous and she worried he wouldn't come back. She briefly thought about telling whoever was calling him to 'Fuck off', but quickly dismissed it. Whoever was calling him would either step on her like she was an insect, or swallow her whole. Before he disappeared, he pulled her down by her arm and kissed her. Then, she was alone in the kitchen. She stood and looked around, noticing a few cracked crystals and a broken light bulb on the chandelier in the foyer. Lockdown must have knocked his head on it.

Eva dug around in the tool-slash-junk drawer and fished out new crystals, then retrieved a new light bulb from the broom closet. She grabbed one of the dining chairs and carried it into the foyer, then set it down under the chandelier and stood up on it. She maneuvered the cracked crystals off and pocketed them, then hung the new ones and replaced the light bulb. Lockdown's hologram reappeared in the kitchen while she was in the middle of screwing the new light bulb into the fixture. She could see him but he couldn't see her.

"Eva?"

"In here!" Eva called automatically, but then mentally kicked herself because Lockdown couldn't hear her.

Eva had to stand on her toes even on the chair to reach the chandelier, and it was an old and unstable chair. The legs creaked and shifted while she worked and her stomach flip-flopped, her core muscles tensing instinctively to keep her from tipping. But as she sank down to stand flat, one of the screws in the chair leg came loose and the leg snapped out, toppling the chair and dropping her to the floor. She hit with a thud that she was sure vibrated the whole lower floor of the house and Lockdown came running.

"Eva!" he pushed the chair out of the way and knelt down, gathering her up in his arms like she'd shattered. "You alright, kid?"

Eva shifted in his arms, putting one arm over his shoulder. "I'm fine, Lockdown. I didn't break," she said, looking up at his face.

"Ya could've," he told her. "Be careful."

Lockdown stood, holding her in his arms the way he did when he snuck her out of the hospital. Eva watched his face, her own feeling warm. He set her on her feet after a moment, seeming hesitant.

"I gotta go," he finally said. "I should only be gone for a day or two."

Eva nodded a little. "Okay."

He brushed her hair away from her eyes, then his hologram disappeared and she headed out into the garage. His engine rumbled to life as she stepped into the darkened space. The cement was cool under her bare soles and she could feel the vibrations of his engine in the floor. She laid a hand on his hood and rubbed lightly. He revved quietly in response.

"Be safe,"

"See ya soon, Eva."

The garage door opened and light gradually flooded the space. Lockdown's engine rumbled an octave lower and he backed out into the street slowly. Eva followed him out and stopped in the driveway, watching as he paused in the street, then drove away, engine roaring. She watched until he disappeared around a corner, then stood there for a few minutes longer. Chores needed doing, so she turned and walked back into the house.

† † †

Lockdown came back three days later. Eva found out when he snuck up on her. She'd been in the basement folding laundry fresh out of the dryer after starting another load in the washing machine when his arms suddenly locked around her waist and his face was buried against her neck. She jolted and screeched in surprise, and a quiet laugh shot tingles down her spine. She turned to tell him never to do that again, but as soon as her mouth opened, he was kissing her. He had to lean over so much it was ridiculous, even when she stood on her toes, so to make it easier on him, she grabbed his shoulders and pulled herself up into his arms. His hand and hook cupped her bottom and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Missed you," he purred between lip locks.

"Missed you, too," she replied, smiling.

Lockdown kicked the laundry basket aside and stepped over to the washing machine, sitting her on top of it. Eva could feel the heat from the water and the vibrations in the drum through the lid of the machine. His hand and hook worked her clothes off quickly and his hook popped a seam on the hem of her shirt. She scooted to the edge of the washing machine and positioned herself for easy entry, hooking her legs around his waist. His jack was already buzzing as he lined himself up and thrust inside.

It was quick and rough, and when the washing machine hit the spin cycle, intense and noisy. Eva prayed to God and whatever other powers that existed that the grinding noise of the washing machine drowned out all their moans and growls, because Cecilija was napping upstairs. When it was over, Lockdown slumped over the washing machine and Eva tried her best to hold him up. He straightened after a moment and smirked at her, easing himself out as he stepped back.

He lifted her off the washing machine and gave her a hard time while she tried to dress. He kept snapping the waistband of her underwear against her skin and unfastening her bra. Then he wouldn't let her zip or button her pants because he kept toying with her hands. When he finally let her get dressed, she asked him about his hunt while she finished the laundry.

And it went on like that for weeks. Lockdown would leave on hunts that lasted anywhere from one day to five. When he wasn't gone, he and Eva would spend time together at the house and talk, he would follow her to work and mope around in the alley next to the pub, poking her with text messages to her cell phone throughout her shift, and they would sneak off somewhere to be alone that usually resulted in sex. Hell, most of their time together resulted in sex, unless one of them was in a particularly foul mood.

After one hunt, Lockdown came back especially frisky and chased Eva around the house. He'd become adept at avoiding all the ceiling light fixtures and wall sconces, so no accidents or broken light bulbs happened while they played cat and mouse. He'd finally cornered her in the kitchen, where he tossed her across the dining table and worked her pants off in a heartbeat. Eva had been _immensely_ grateful that Cecilija had gone out to volunteer at the local soup kitchen again.

A month came and went and Eva became increasingly distracted at work, both when Lockdown was here and especially when he was gone on a hunt. She couldn't stop thinking about him; her stomach danced and tied in knots whenever he entered her mind. She was sure the only time she _wasn't_ thinking about him was when she was sleeping. She found herself eager to go home and be with him when he wasn't hunting, and anxiously waiting for him to come back when he was.

Coworkers at the pub pinned it on 'tripping over a man' and her boss respectfully kept his nose out of her business. It was mostly true, but her coworkers were on the receiving end of her bad temper whenever they mentioned it. She wondered when they would ever learn _not_ to ask about her life outside work. Besides, Lockdown wasn't a _man_. But he _was_ the best thing that ever happened to her.

† † †

Eva was startled awake in the middle of the night by a mild nightmare. Her throat was throbbing, so she decided to get up and get a glass of milk. She shuffled downstairs to the kitchen, half awake, and opened the fridge, squinting in the light. She grabbed the milk carton and unscrewed the cap, then decided she felt too lazy to get a glass and drank straight from the carton. The chilly, smooth liquid soothed her aching throat. She heard Lockdown's voice coming from the garage, but it was too low and muffled to understand anything he was saying.

She took another drink from the milk carton, replaced the cap and put it away, pushing the fridge door closed. Then she shuffled to the sitting room off the kitchen and sat down in the chaise lounge. Whenever her throat ached, it always kept her up at night, and Aspirin only took the edge off the pain. She pulled her knees up and put her feet on the lounge, resting back and gingerly rubbing her throat. She hated it when it ached. Lockdown's engine started quietly and his hologram materialized beside the door.

"Hey, kiddo. I've gotta split for awhile. So—" he stopped short. "Phantom pains?"

Eva looked up at him and nodded a little, her hand on her throat. "Can't sleep," she rasped quietly.

Lockdown was quiet for a moment, then his eyebrow ridges rose a bit. "Hey, c'mere. I'll show you somethin' neat." He gestured toward the garage and disappeared.

"Okay," she whispered to herself.

She stood and grabbed a cotton hoodie jacket off the coat rack and pulled it on, then slid her feet into a pair of black ballet flats that she always kept next to the coat rack in case she needed to run outside in a hurry. It was the only pair of "girly" shoes that she owned and ever wore. She went out to the garage and slid into his waiting passenger seat. It was cozy warm and she sat back, stretching her legs out.

"I've got a bounty I gotta take off for, but I thought I'd show you my ship first. Maybe that white stuff you eat'll kick in by the time we get there," Lockdown's voice came from the speakers and he gently secured her with the seatbelt.

It was only milk, but it did make her throat less achy. "Maybe," she smiled a little.

Lockdown backed out into the street and drove away from the house, his engine revving quietly. After he left the neighborhood, he turned on his headlights and illuminated everything in red. It was kind of creepy; the streets were deserted at one o'clock in the morning and his red headlights made everything look like a scene from a horror zombie movie. He drove six blocks and slowed, pulling into an empty lot. Eva sat forward, looking around the lot.

"Aw, man, somebody impounded it!" he groaned.

"Huh..?" Eva was a little confused.

His door opened and she automatically unbuckled and got out. She gently pushed his door closed and sidestepped away—and bumped into something! She turned her back to Lockdown with a quick motion and lifted her hand, reaching out. The lot was empty, but there was something _there._

"The hell?" she glared at the empty space her hand was _touching._

Lockdown transformed and laughed softly. His laugh always sounded like a sinister cackle, but it did funny things to Eva's insides. He touched something on his arm and a ship so mind-bogglingly massive rippled into existence Eva thought she was at home dreaming. She snapped her hand back, startled, and backed up some so she could get a good look. It was all red, burgundy and grey and the shape of the nose vaguely reminded her of the engines powering the pod racer Sebulba piloted in one of those Star Wars movies. At the top was a set of wings that looked almost like an over-exaggerated racing spoiler, and at the end of each wing were massive transparent red panels that glowed faintly in the dark. The glow faded gradually as she watched.

"My ride," Lockdown smirked, clearly smug that he'd impressed her.

"Whoa," Eva said after a moment. "UFO stories _aren't_ all bullshit."

Lockdown knelt and extended his hand to her. Eva wouldn't have minded if he'd just scooped her up, but she figured he was still nervous about unintentionally hurting her. She turned to face him.

"Up you get, kid," Lockdown half-smiled at her. "I'll give ya a little tour."

Eva smiled back. "Okay."

Eva climbed up into his hand and sat, dangling one leg off. Lockdown stood and a ramp lowered with a soft hiss. It touched the pavement with a soft, muffled clank and he strode over to it, ascending into the ship. He walked through a short airlock chamber and it was dark until two sets of lights came on. They illuminated two examination tables, chains strung from the ceiling and hanging on the walls, monitors, a huge screen and a control panel of some kind, shelves lined with helmets, weapons and disembodied limbs, piping along the walls, a huge grinding wheel and robotic tool arms. The lights above the tables were huge surgical lights.

Eva looked around at everything and swallowed. This is what Lockdown was. A bounty hunter. He was dangerous; he killed people and kept their personal modifications as trophies. He was _paid_ to kill people. Which meant he was _good_ at killing. In all honesty, it scared her, and the sight of all his trophies and the examination tables made her nervous, but she knew Lockdown wouldn't hurt her.

"Whoa," she finally said. "It's almost like a mad scientist's laboratory. Freaky."

Eva suddenly imagined sex on one of those examination tables and shifted, looking somewhere else to encourage her mind to change the subject. She finally took notice of the sheer _size_ of everything. Lockdown stood over two stories tall, of course everything would be huge. Eva felt miniscule and insignificant. He moved forward then, passing under the surgical lights as he crossed the room and entered another just big enough for him to walk in and take a few steps to either side. On one wall was what looked like another shelf, but there was some kind of cushion or padding at one end.

"S'my bed when I'm traveling," Lockdown said, his lips quirking into a self-conscious grin.

"_This_ is your bedroom?"

It was little more than a closet! Eva looked around the barren space, absently rubbing her neck as she tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling. The lights were recessed into the ceiling and dim. She lifted her leg up and turned in his hand to face him, leaning back on her own hands as she looked up at his face.

"Does it get cold in here?" she asked.

"Sometimes it can. There's heating," he replied.

In the light of his own ship, Lockdown's face seemed almost monstrous. The dim lights cast harsh shadows on his face and deeply accented every curve and angle. His brows shadowed his eyes and they glowed faintly. Eva wondered if he lit it that way on purpose. She wasn't scared of him in the slightest, however. What he _did_ scared her. She quirked her lips into a small grin and wondered if he'd take her with him this time. Scary or not, she wanted to know what his job was like.

"Do you get lonely when you're tracking down your bounties?" she asked, hopeful.

But Lockdown wasn't stupid. His smile dropped into a frown. "I can't take you with me, kid. This ship doesn't carry oxygen. You'd never survive leaving the atmosphere. I can survive without breathing," he said, a bit harshly. "You can't," he added a second later. His voice had dropped to a gentle rumble.

Eva's own grin disappeared and she looked down, pouting. Of course he couldn't take her with him. She was silly to think that he could. Still, she hoped that he would, someday.

"Hey," he said softly, using the tip of his huge hook to raise her chin. "I've just got to get some nanites to somebody. It's a vial of silver stuff. I know where it is. I'll be back in a day, tops."

"Okay..." Eva grasped the tip of his hook and kissed the metal. "Stay safe, Lockdown. Can I have a kiss before you go?"

Lockdown chuckled softly and lifted her up close to his face. Eva shifted onto her knees and leaned forward, putting her hands on his chin and kissing his bottom lip. She took a breath to say something else to him, but her innards clenched tight and heat coiled around her heart like a serpent, stealing her breath, when she realized just _what_ she was going to say to him. He nuzzled his lips against her side lightly and turned, crossing the control-slash-trophy room. He passed through the airlock chamber and descended the ramp, walking across the parking lot to the fence line.

Eva fidgeted while he walked, her heart thumping against her sternum. It felt constricted. _Was I really going to say that? Do I really feel that way?_ She bit her lip, the heat coiled around her heart swelling up into her eyes. She quickly blinked away the tears. _And why does it seem so...easy? And right?_ A cool breeze sent more tears to her eyes and she blinked them away again. Lockdown stopped at the fence line and slowly knelt down, lowering his hand.

"If your old lady asks, I'm at the shop getting fixed," Lockdown winked at her.

Eva scooted off his hand and half-forced a smile. "Okay." She knew her eyes were glassy with the tears she refused to let fall. She swallowed the words when they bubbled up again.

He flashed a smile at her. "Hey, I'll be right back," he said, obviously trying to reassure her.

Lockdown stood and took a step back, then turned and jogged back to his ship, climbing up the ramp and disappearing inside. The ramp lifted and closed, sealing with a hiss. The ground vibrated and Eva heard the engines powering up, then the ship lifted off and ascended quickly, then sped away toward the stars. Dust stirred by the ship's engine output jets slowly settled. Eva watched the sky, whispering to herself the confession she didn't have the guts to say to Lockdown.

"I love you..."

Eva turned and skirted the fence, her shoes tapping quietly on the sidewalk as she walked toward home. She covered her mouth with both hands, unable to stop the tears when they welled up again. She choked back sobs; terrified that Lockdown might not come back.


	9. Luck always runs out

Note: Thanks to Skins Thunderbomb for letting me use Thunderbomb!

† † †

The following day, Eva went to work and asked her boss if she could just wait tables. She was still too upset to deal with bar patrons that often got shitfaced, and she was afraid she'd start a fight if one of said patrons got grabby or snippy with her. Then she'd be in _serious_ trouble.

It was nearing the lunch rush, but Eva suspected it wouldn't be much of a "rush" since the morning had been pretty slow. She gathered up the week's garbage and dumped it all into a big black bag. Tying the bag closed, she hauled it outside into the alley where the Dumpster was and fought to heft it up and dump it. Her motorcycle was parked against the wall near the end of the alley so another idiot wouldn't try and fail to boost it again. She heard footsteps coming down the alley but ignored them and shoved the garbage bag into the Dumpster. She stepped back and wiped her hands on her apron, then turned to go back inside and glanced up reflexively at the person walking down the alley.

It was a tall man, too tan with an average build, with dark, well-kept hair and groomed eyebrows, and wearing a grey pinstripe business suit far too expensive for this area of Detroit. There was something fat in his jacket pocket. Then, Eva recognized his face and her heart stopped. It was the man from the hotel room. Edward Kowalski. She remembered his name from his driver's license.

"Oh, fuck," she hissed.

"Hello, Evangeline. You remember me," he said with a sneer. "You stole my money."

Eva glanced toward the door. The Dumpster was against the wall on the opposite side of the alley from the door. It wasn't very far. She made a run for it. Edward chased her down and snagged her arm by the elbow, yanking her back and throwing her. She yelped and lost her balance, tumbling to the pavement and flinging her hands out to catch herself. She pushed herself up and scrambled away on her hands and knees, glancing over her shoulder quickly. He was descending upon her.

"You're not getting away this time, you little bitch."

"Oh my God, oh my God..!"

Eva tried to get up and run, her mind racing to Cecilija and Lockdown, but Edward's leg collided with her stomach and she grunted, dropping to the pavement. He kicked her in the ribs hard enough to break them and she cried out, curling in on herself and choking and coughing. His hand snagged a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back. She bucked, one hand flying up to grab his wrist.

"Agh!"

"You know, if you were smart, you'd put her down and back off nice and slow," came a gloriously familiar, deep voice, followed by the growling roar of a muscle car engine.

_Lockdown!_

Edward paused, glancing over his shoulder. Then his hand shot into his jacket pocket and yanked out whatever was in it. It was a short, fat syringe and syrupy, silver liquid glinted brightly in the sunlight shining into the alley. Eva gasped sharply, her memory flitting over the words Lockdown had used before he left; _"A vial of silver stuff."_

_Nanites!_

She kicked and bucked, trying to yank his hand off her hair. He wouldn't budge. He bit the cap off a small needle and stabbed it into the side of her neck. She screamed when the needle punctured her flesh and she felt something cold and viscous pushed into her carotid artery. Edward leaned down, pulling her hair viciously.

"See you in hell, little bitch," he whispered. His breath was hot on her ear.

"Fuck you!" she spat.

Lockdown's headlights came on and backlit Edward in red. His engine revved loudly, twice. Edward tilted her head back farther than her neck wanted and pinching pain shot down into her shoulder. He snagged her mouth in a brutal kiss, shoving his tongue into her mouth. Eva bucked and bit down on his tongue, slamming her fist into his testicles. He jerked back and fell over, dropping the syringe as his hands went to his vitals.

Lockdown transformed then and Eva rolled over, scrambling up and out of the way as he bore down on Edward. Edward looked up when Lockdown's shadow fell across him.

"Where did you get those nanites?!" Lockdown seethed.

Edward screamed like a girl and tried to crawl away, but Lockdown's hook descended and snagged him by his pants. He lifted him clear of the ground and brought him up to his eyelevel.

"Answer me," Lockdown snarled.

"A b-business partner," Edward stammered.

"Names. Addresses. _Now."_

"Bl—Blackarachnia."

"That whore? Tch. Let me guess. Purple spider, big aft and a lovely personality?" Lockdown grabbed Edward in his hand and held him upside down. "And what's your name, human?"

"Y-yep—um, Ed Kowalski."

Eva suddenly began feeling sick. Heat shot down her back and filled her chest, swelling up into her head, and waves of dizziness truck her, followed by intense nausea. She left Lockdown to interrogate Edward and went inside the pub, untying her apron and taking it off. Her boss was unpacking cases of Amstel and Samuel Adam's beer.

"Charlie, I'm not feeling well. Can I clock out early and go home?" she asked, a bit breathless.

Her boss, Charlie, looked up and his eyebrows rose. "Whoa. Yeah, kid, you go on home. It's a slow day; me or Dana will cover your tables."

"Thanks, Charlie."

"No problem, kid. Go home and go to bed. Sleep's the best cure for illness."

Eva nodded as she grabbed her jacket and pulled it on, hooking the zipper together. She picked up her helmet and tucked it under her arm as she pushed the door open and stepped back outside, zipping up her jacket. Lockdown was setting Edward down when she looked up.

"Get outta here. I don't want your guts on me right now," he growled.

Edward got up and ran like his ass was on fire. Eva picked up the empty syringe and threw it into the Dumpster as she approached her motorcycle. She stopped next to it and leaned on the seat with one hand, hanging her helmet on the right handle. She felt so hot she thought she would spontaneously combust, and it only made her feel more nauseous.

"Ohh, I think I'm gonna puke," she groaned.

Lockdown rolled up beside her in car mode. His engine rumbled quietly.

"You shouldn't ride, you don't look so great," he said. "C'mon. Maybe your immune system will get rid of the nanites." He sounded nervous.

Eva looked at him, then the nausea intensified so much that she ran over to the Dumpster and dropped to her knees, vomiting up everything left in her stomach from breakfast and her early lunch break. Her stomach muscles clenching so hard made her broken ribs scream. She coughed and choked, vomiting until nothing but bile came up.

"I need to get you to a medic," Lockdown said, worry clearly evident in his voice.

Eva spat a few times and moaned softly, then sat back and wiped her mouth. She grabbed the side of the Dumpster and slowly stood, shaking.

"Just a sec," she panted. "I'm gonna give my boss my bike key. He'll drive it home for me..."

Eva went back inside and pulled the Harley's key from her jacket pocket. Charlie was behind the bar, putting the bottles of Amstel and Samuel Adam's in the coolers.

"Charlie?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"Will you drive my Harley home later? A...friend of mine is going to drive me home."

Charlie stood and dusted his hands over his jeans, then reached out and took the key Eva held out.

"Sure, kid. You probably shouldn't drive anyway. You're looking kind of green."

"Thanks again, Charlie..."

"No problem, Eva. Just go home and rest, alright?"

"I will."

Eva went back out into the alley and walked over to Lockdown. His passenger door opened and she braced herself on it as she climbed into the seat. The door and the seat seemed to support her as she climbed in and she slumped back in the seat, letting out a shaky sigh. The dizziness and nausea kept getting worse.

"Hang in there, kid," Lockdown said as he backed out into the street. He sounded a lot more worried now.

Lockdown broke every traffic law as he sped toward her house. He took back roads, of course, and he almost ran up a curb as he sped down the road. Eva slouched a little and braced one hand up on his ceiling of his interior, her other hand gripping the edge of his seat. He whipped around a corner at a speed no human driver could ever accomplish without flipping and slowed down, rolling to a stop next to a gathering of old Dumpsters and trash. Eva didn't remember those being there before...

Eva heard a jet engine and looked out the window. A purple and blue jet was coming in for a landing, and just when Eva thought it would bowl them over, it came to a hover and transformed into tall, slim robot. It landed, folding its arms.

"What's the big emergency?" the voice was distinctly feminine and had what sounded like an Australian accent. "And could you at least tell me what's going on next time?"

Eva wondered why an alien robot would sound Australian as she gazed out at her. Eva pushed herself to sit up straighter, feeling another wave of intense nausea that almost drowned out the throbbing pain of her broken ribs.

"Lockdown, I'm gonna throw up again," she rasped.

"C'mon inside. I got somebody here who got injected with nanites."

Lockdown drove _toward the wall_ and suddenly his ship appeared, and he drove up the ramp and into the control room. He opened his door and Eva rolled out onto the floor of the ship. She unzipped her jacket and waited.

"Ugh, nanites. Gotta love 'em," the jet said as she came up the ramp and into the control room. "A human...wait—_she_ was injected?!"

Eva started throwing up again the moment the jet came in. Her stomach was empty, so all that came up was miniscule amounts of bile and saliva when she spat. It wouldn't stop and it was starting to hurt, broken ribs aside. Tears welled up in her eyes and dripped down her cheeks as Lockdown transformed and scooped her up into his hand gently, carefully depositing her on one of the examination tables. He shot the jet a somewhat dirty look.

"A human medic wouldn't know what to do," he said. "I don't know jack about nanites, other than they bring in money. Some human stuffed Eva full of 'em, and I don't know what to do. I thought she'd fight them off, but look at her! Outputting ain't normal for fleshies, is it?"

Lockdown stroked her back with the blunt edge of his hook, but it wasn't relaxing her. Eva's sobs were hard and shook her small frame. The jet sat down on the floor and projected a hologram like Lockdown's. She was shorter than him. She knelt down and scrutinized her.

"This isn't good," she said softly. "I'm no expert on organics, but either her body will accept the nanites and she becomes a techno-organic, or her body rejects them." She passed some kind of device over her and looked at it. "Nanites go inside the body of a mech and fix damage, or the reverse. For a human...who knows _what_ will happen to her?"

The look on the jet's face said it all. If her body rejected them, she'd die. Eva did _not_ want to die! She coughed between sobs as she turned slightly and grabbed Lockdown's hook. Now she was terrified.

"Lockdown, I'm scared!" she cried weakly.

Lockdown gently pulled his hook away, then transformed into his vehicle mode, his hologram appearing beside her.

"Me too, kid," he said softly. "She's...uh—she's gonna help ya."

He sat down, gently guiding her to lay down and rest her head on his leg. Eva laid her head on his slim thigh and held onto his knee with her hand, looking up at the jet as she started to shiver. Chills raced down her spine and she jerked with them.

"I'm going to try, Lockdown," the jet growled, thumping him upside the head. "It's Thunderbomb. What's her name?"

Thunderbomb's hologram disappeared for a second and her real body ejected a box of some kind. She caught it and set it down on the table, then her hologram reappeared and she dug through the box, taking out what looked like a human EMT kit. She walked over to Eva and knelt down, setting the kit down. Her eyes flicked to Lockdown.

"You can call me TB if it's easier on you." Then her eyes focused back on her. "Now, I need to take a blood sample and see what these nasties are doing to your body. _Then_ we can see what needs to be done."

She sounded like an experienced doctor, so Eva sat up and started working her jacket off. Lockdown and Thunderbomb helped her get it off and she slumped back into Lockdown's lap, draping one arm out over his thigh for Thunderbomb.

"This's Eva," Lockdown said. "She tried to steal me. S'how we met."

"How fitting," Thunderbomb mused, eyeing them for a moment and grinning.

His hand rubbed her arm and Eva smiled slightly. Thunderbomb opened the EMT kit and wrapped a rubber tourniquet around her upper arm snugly. She took a needle and a syringe out and put them together.

"Okay, Eva, this might sting a little," Thunderbomb warned as she probed her inner elbow for a vein.

She found one and pierced it with the needle as gently as possible. It still stung and Eva twitched.

"Ow..."

"Sorry."

Thunderbomb slowly pulled back the plunger on the syringe and blood slowly spilled into it. She didn't take very much and pressed her thumb over her arm where the needle was, then pulled it out and removed the tourniquet. She took a small plastic box out of the EMT kit and opened it, pulling out a glass slide. She pulled the two pieces apart and carefully deposited a drop or two on one piece, then pressed the other piece on top, spreading the drops out. She set the syringe down in the kit and a visor dropped down over her eyes. It flickered as she examined the slide.

After a minute or two she looked up, the visor lifting. "Okay, good news and bad news. Which one first?"

"Pick one," Eva panted.

"Just spill it," Lockdown said.

"Fine. Good news, then." Thunderbomb looked at Eva. "The good news is that the nanites injected into you weren't of the viral kind; they were meant to heal. They're reshaping your body as we speak to make it stronger, adding tissue and such," she paused. "The bad news is...you could die from it."

"...fantastic," Eva said as she clapped her hands over her face. She felt Lockdown stiffen.

"You're _not_ letting that happen," he said.

"It's not a matter of whether I can 'let' it happen, Lockdown," Thunderbomb sighed. "Look, with organic bodies, once something is in the bloodstream, you can't get it out. It's like trying to un-mix energon. What she got was like the equivalent of one of us being injected with cadmium; you either die from it, or you don't. There _is_ no stopping it."

Lockdown slapped his hook down on the table. "There _has_ to be a way!" he roared.

Thunderbomb was silent for a moment. "I'll do what I can to keep her alive. But I can't promise that she'll live, alright?"

Eva started feeling tired and all she wanted to do was sleep all of a sudden. She started relaxing in Lockdown's lap, her eyes half closing. He really was a comfortable bed.

"M'tired..." she murmured.

"No, you're not," Lockdown shot back. He picked her up and cradled her in his lap. "C'mon, kid...don't do this."

Eva looked at him, sitting up for a moment before she sagged against his chest, her head falling against his shoulder.

"Eva! Stay awake. Please. I...need you," Lockdown begged.

Eva felt a prick in the back of her hand and sticky fabric tape was pressed onto her skin. She lifted her hand to Lockdown's face and noticed an IV line coming out of it as her fingers traced the black marks around his eye and along his cheek.

"Lockdown..." she breathed.

He looked at her. His eyes looked like they'd been spritzed with a water mister. "Hang in there," he said. "You're tough for a squishy, you know." He grinned, but it trembled, then he leaned over and kissed her softly. "You make me feel all weird,"

Eva kissed back weakly. She was cold now, but she wasn't shivering. Lockdown was warm and comfortable and she didn't want to be anywhere else but in his arms.

"We're gonna get you better," he said, "and we're gonna go somewhere. I'll get oxygen for this ship and I'll show ya something none of your other humans'll ever believe." He sounded desperate.

Eva rested her head on his shoulder again and closed her eyes. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep, but she had to say it before she fell asleep. She had to tell him.

"Lockdown... Love you...love you..."

Everything faded into black and peaceful quiet. Then there was a shearing sensation and Eva found herself looking down at Lockdown, Thunderbomb and herself from above. She felt bigger than everything and lighter than air. Lockdown shook her. She saw that she looked pale and flaxen, and she flopped limply in his arms.

"No. Don't you—Eva! Don't _do_ this! Gods, no! Damn it!"

"Let her go!" Thunderbomb cried.

Lockdown's arms opened and Eva watched as Thunderbomb pulled her from him, laying her out on her back and pushing her shirt up to her neck. She'd produced a defibrillator from the EMT kit and was rubbing the pads together while the machine charged. It chimed when it was ready and Thunderbomb pressed the pads to her chest between her breasts and ribcage just below her bra. She administered a shock and Eva saw her body go rigid then limp again, but oddly felt nothing. Lockdown was on her again, cupping her face in his hand and hook. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"If that weird feelin' you give me is love, then I love you too. Hear me?" he whispered to her.

His voice sounded as if it was directly in her ear. There was another shearing sensation and Eva found herself staring up at clear, cloudless sky. She sat up and looked around. It was gloomy and cold and—why did heaven look like an abandoned, endless parking lot at dusk?

"What—where am I?"

"The afterlife," a gentle, masculine voice replied from behind her. "Hello, Eva."

Eva got to her feet and turned around, startled. The voice belonged to a tall, broad mech, all blue and white with gold and black accents. His eyes were gentle and a beautiful shade of clear, aquamarine blue.

"Don't worry, I'm of no danger to you," he said gently, striding over to her. He only stood a head taller than her. "My name is Primus."

Primus? He was tiny! "Prim—" Eva stepped back and pointed, gaping. "You—you're his god!" she exclaimed, referring to Lockdown. She noticed her voice was strong and rang clear in this empty parking lot.

Primus nodded with a bright smile. "Yes, the God of Light. I'm quite pleased to meet you."

Eva remembered the night under the overpass, listening to Lockdown and seeing his pain. And now, here she was, standing in front of the god Lockdown believed didn't care.

"He thinks you abandoned him," she said.

Primus' smile dropped and he looked sad. "I know," he murmured. "Several of my children think the same, and believe that I will never answer their prayers. But you are living proof that I answer all of my children," he winked at her. "It simply takes time."

Eva blinked. "What do you mean, I'm 'living proof'? I'm...kinda dead."

"Really?" Primus asked her, his optics twinkling. "Do you really think you are truly dead, Eva?"

Realization dawned on her and she didn't hear him at first. "Oh, God. I'm dead! I'm dead?! _Aah!_ Wait—what?"

Primus chuckled softly and waved his finger. "Does this really seem like the heaven or hell that your religious leaders speak of? Awfully quiet, I think."

"Um," Eva turned and looked around. This place _was_ kind of...empty.

"You can choose to go up and on," Primus gestured skyward, "or go back down there. This is a place of choosing. I believe humans call it Limbo," he smiled. "And if you choose to go back down there, can you pass on a message to Lockdown?"

Choice? _What _choice? There never _was_ a choice when it came to Lockdown. His voice telling her he loved her echoed through her mind. Or did it echo through the parking lot? Her choice had already been made.

"I'm going back to him."

Primus nodded and leaned down a bit. His smile was dazzling. "Then, tell Lockdown for me, 'I heard you. This is your answer.' And tell Thunderbomb I said 'hi'."

With that, he lifted his hand and lightly flicked Eva's forehead. Eva tumbled backward into nothing and the parking lot dissolved into white. She fell for hours—at least, it seemed like hours. Everything had turned black and she didn't know when that happened. She could hear quiet, nearly silent crying and then she suddenly stopped falling and it was hard to breathe. She struggled to take in a breath and felt her throat working to do...something.

"Lockdown!" Thunderbomb cried.

There was silence from Lockdown and Eva still struggled to take in a breath. Her lungs were _screaming_ now. Something metal touched her chest.

"She's alive!" Thunderbomb cried again.

Eva felt Lockdown lean over her and his shadow blocked out the overhead lights.

"Eva, hey, look at me. Open your eyes," he said gently, urgently. "She needs air! Or something—"

Lockdown was cut off and something was placed on Eva's face, cool air pumping out over her nose and mouth. She turned her head slightly, her throat contracting and managing a swallow before her lungs finally worked and sucked in a deep breath. She started coughing and _oh,_ it burned. She opened her eyes but the bright light stabbed into her pupils and she closed them again.

"Eva," Lockdown said, shaking her by her shoulders a bit.

Eva opened her eyes and looked up at him, sucking in the oxygen from the mask. "Lockdown..."

Thunderbomb passed a scanner of some kind over her, then breathed out a sigh of relief, clapping her hand on her cockpit canopy. "Thank Primus for that..." she whispered.

Primus. That triggered memories so sharp and vivid Eva could smell the blacktop and the cold air. She turned her gaze to Thunderbomb.

"He says 'hi'," she murmured.

"Oh, yeah, he does that—say what now?" Thunderbomb's optics went wide.

"He said...to tell you he said 'hi'," Eva said again, reaching up to take off the oxygen mask.

"You saw Primus?" she looked amazed. "Wow, I'll have to say 'hi' back when I visit his temple next year."

Eva nodded slightly, then turned her gaze back to Lockdown and raised her arms, reaching for him. He lifted her into his arms gently. He looked at her like it was the first time all over again.

"Who said what?" he asked.

"Primus said 'hi'," Eva relished the feeling of Lockdown's arms. "And he said to tell you, Lockdown, that he heard you, and this is your answer," she reached up and touched his tear-streaked face, thumbing his bottom lip slightly.

Lockdown smiled a little, then leaned down and kissed her hard. Eva held his face in both hands and kissed him back almost desperately, tears dripping from her eyes and rolling down her temples into her hair. She memorized the feel of his mouth again, relishing its soft, metallic heat. She never wanted to leave him again.

"Well, welcome back to the Land of the Living. Should I leave you two alone for a moment?" came Thunderbomb's voice.

Lockdown wiped at his eyes between kisses. "I need to dust this ship," he grumbled, his voice a little hoarse. "S'makin' my eyes lubricate."

Oh, that was a _lame_ excuse! Eva and Thunderbomb snickered and Eva helped Lockdown wipe his eyes. Lockdown's thumb gently wiped away her own tears.

"M'sorry I scared you," she whispered to him. She pulled him close and closed her eyes for a moment, brushing her lips over his and whispering against them, "I love you."

Lockdown's eyes closed and his lips twitched, a trembling sigh escaping him. Tears fell from his eyes again and Eva smiled a little. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and hugged him close, kissing him. He kissed her back, and it felt as needy as hers did. He paused after a moment to let her breathe and looked into her eyes while their foreheads were touching. He sported one eye this close and she smiled at him.

"Hi," she said softly.

Thunderbomb cleared her throat. "Sorry to break you two up but, something important I gotta tell you."

Eva looked over at Thunderbomb, Lockdown looking with her. "Hm..?"

"The nanites did their job," Thunderbomb said. "They've dramatically increased the lifespan of your body. You won't age like normal humans, or get hurt like them. In human terms...you're practically immortal now." She rubbed the back of her head, looking a little sheepish, then reached out and removed the IV from her hand.

Eva blinked. She almost couldn't comprehend it. "What?"

"You're immortal," Thunderbomb repeated.

Lockdown drew her close to his chest. "You'll live as long as I do. Or close do it," he said. Thunderbomb nodded.

Eva thought about that...and smiled. She'd get to be with Lockdown forever! She snuggled closer to his chest and hid her face against his neck, kissing it softly. She heard rustling as Thunderbomb started packing up the EMT kit.

"Well, my work here is done," she said. "Good luck with everything, Eva, Lockdown."

Eva looked at her. "Thank you..."

Lockdown laid her down gently and stood, offering his hand to Thunderbomb. He said nothing, and Eva knew, for Lockdown, that was an action that said far more than words ever could.

"Don't mention it," Thunderbomb smiled at her and looked at Lockdown, taking his hand and shaking it. She even gave him a quick, friendly hug. "Take care of yourself and your mate." She grinned and stepped back, her hologram vanishing.


End file.
